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Perpetuum receives influx of EVE players

Brendan Drain — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 22:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, MMO industry, News items, Perpetuum

Amidst the recent EVE Online controversy, thousands of players declared their intention to cancel subscriptions and leave for another game. As Perpetuum Online is built on the EVE-inspired principles of a single-shard universe and takes a sci-fi sandbox approach to content design, players began posting that they were picking up the trial and giving the game a shot. Until now, we didn't really know if those players were honestly giving Perpetuum a try or if it was part of an epic rage-quit bluff.

On the Perpetuum Online forum, developer BoyC alerted players to a server load problem and at the same time welcomed the influx of players that began 48 hours prior. A login limit had to be placed on the server to balance the load, and the increased number of players trying to access the game has even highlighted a bug in the relay servers to which players connect. "The sheer number of new players caught us by surprise," said DEV BoyC, "and we're working around the clock to accommodate each and every one of you."

It's worth noting that EVE Online has in the past used the same strategy that Perpetuum is currently benefiting from. By providing the players of Earth and Beyond and Star Wars Galaxies with a similar alternative game, CCP drew in a huge number of players when those games rapidly shed customers. The shoe appears to be on the other foot this week as Perpetuum seems to be the closest alternative to EVE on the market.

But will EVE players stick with Perpetuum? Will the game that's so often been called "EVE in Mechs" really hold their attention? That's the part we're most curious to find out.

Perpetuum receives influx of EVE players originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 26 Jun 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Player rewards versus character rewards

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion

Rewards have, more often than not, been things that make your character better. You complete a quest and you get a new piece of equipment, or access to a new area, or even just a nice handful of experience toward the next level. But we've recently talked a bit about how leveling, and progression by extension, can get rather tedious. Spinksville also talked about this, discussing the differences between player rewards and character rewards, with the former being general rewards that stick with the player and aren't contingent upon or related to power level.

An excellent example is that of Klingons in Star Trek Online. The race has been a staple of the series ever since it began, and the Klingon Empire is one of the major political factions in the game... but it's not initially accessible to players. You have to complete a mission or reach Level 6 in order to unlock the option of playing a Klingon. Similarly, World of Warcraft gates its first hero class, the Death Knight, by requiring a level 55 character before one can be created.

Player rewards contribue less to a sense of avatar progress, but they also help keep the power level slightly lower, as well as providing benefits that you can take with you, so to speak. On the other hand, they're vulnerable to feeling less like rewards because they're unrelated to the character who obtained them. We've all been well-versed in the endgame grind for gear acquisition, however, so the post's call for more player rewards might be a welcome change for many of us.

Player rewards versus character rewards originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively previews Dungeons & Dragons Online's Module 7

Mike Schramm — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Video, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Classes, Events, in-game, Patches, Endgame, PvE, Hands-on, Massively Hands-on

Dungeons & Dragons Online continues to hold their own in a quickly-growing MMO world. When DDO first showed up as a licensed MMO of the grandaddy of roleplaying games, their main goal was just to meet expectations -- so many people have been a fan of the pen-and-paper game for so long that putting it into MMO form was no easy task. But since release, the DDO team has made improvement after improvement, and added so much content to the game that it's moved beyond the license to stand on its own as a very singular kind of MMO.

Massively got a chance to sit down with the team and take a look at the latest update, Module 7, due out on June 3, and currently in public testing. In addition to some extended playtime with the new Monk class, we got to see updates to the lower level Three Barrel Cove area, a shrine to recently passed-on D&D creator Gary Gygax, and the new raid area under the destroyed Marketplace tent, as well as a few new monsters and raid bosses that can be found down there.

To start your tour through Module 7, just roll a d20 and click on through. To jump to any section of the walkthrough (including directly to our exclusive video preview, if that's what you're looking for), hit the links after the break.

Gallery: Dungeons & Dragons Online: Module 7 Walkthrough

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Massively previews Dungeons & Dragons Online's Module 7 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 May 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Player vs. Everything: The importance of morale

Cameron Sorden — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Grouping, Opinion, Player vs. Everything

We've all been there. Any little thing can start it. Maybe the tank messes up and pulls two groups when he meant to pull one. Maybe the healer was distracted by his cat and some people die. Maybe the mage doesn't watch her aggro and the mobs take out the DPS. Something happens, and the group wipes. The seed of doubt is planted: Can this group really pull this dungeon off? Am I grouped with a bunch of idiots? How big is my repair bill going to be tonight?

It's like watching a chain of dominoes. Sometimes, the group can laugh off a wipe or two. But if a simple mistake turns into a pattern of someone screwing up, or if luck goes against you and you have a few simple mistakes in a row, people start losing their morale. Suddenly, people aren't using their consumables (why bother when you're just going to die again?). The tanks and healers get frustrated and start getting sloppy. The DPS gets angry and starts getting cocky. Everyone thinks everyone else is a moron, and each pull is a little less likely to succeed than the last. Each wipe spirals you further down. Finally, people start having mysterious "emergencies" and have to leave the group (do a /who check to see them farming somewhere in 30 minutes). You might not realize it, but your group's morale is hugely important to your success.

Continue reading Player vs. Everything: The importance of morale

Player vs. Everything: The importance of morale originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MMO MMOnkey: Short Circuiting Social Stereotypes with MMOs

Kevin Murnane — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Lord of the Rings Online, Culture, Opinion, Races, Virtual worlds, MMO MMOnkey

I was playing Lord of the Rings Online one night when a player agreed with something mentioned in general chat by saying "Indeed!" Without rancor or hostility another player laughed at this stilted language and asked whether people really talked like that. Of course the question was answered with a chorus of "Indeed!" but in the ensuing conversation the player who had laughed said that he or she was from an economically disadvantaged area where the use of language like "Indeed" was wholly foreign. S/he was surprised to discover that language differed so radically among different socio-economic groups. And I thought, "Now, this is one of the reasons why MMOs are such interesting places."

People categorize each other based on visual attributes like age, gender, hair and clothing style, and skin color. We also use political, religious, and social ideologies, musical, cinema, and leisure time preferences, and socio-economic class differences to divide ourselves up into different groups. The tendency to categorize and divide has more to do with the basic functioning of the human information processing system than bias or narrow mindedness on people's parts, and it is useful in allowing us to function effectively in the complex, dynamic, and often dangerious environment we call the real world. However, it does have it's drawbacks. It's long been known that people have a marked tendency to identify themselves with a group, identify people who are not members of their group as members of an out-group, and assign negative characteristics to the out-group. Moreover, we tend to spend most of our time with people who are like us. In other words, we hang out with people who look and think like we do and tend to think about people who are not like us in negative terms.

Continue reading MMO MMOnkey: Short Circuiting Social Stereotypes with MMOs

MMO MMOnkey: Short Circuiting Social Stereotypes with MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Giving players the control stick in EVE Online

Mike Schramm — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: EVE Online, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Opinion, Politics, Academic

We heard yesterday that EVE Online is set to start elections for the player council in May, and James over at Kill Ten Rats echoes pretty well the same thoughts that I (and others) have had about this whole idea: is it a good one?

It's an interesting idea, to be sure, and if you listen to the people who had it (in our interview with them), it's a great idea. Instead of worrying about the vagaries of forum feedback and CM involvement, the devs are really hoping to have the game really run according to player concerns, allowing "emergent behavior" to appear on a vast scale. But there are lots of problems that could easily arise -- as James says, the players' roles aren't too specifically defined, so what if they decide to ban a corporation from the game, or purposely unbalance the economy?

Continue reading Giving players the control stick in EVE Online

Giving players the control stick in EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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