Massively

The Soapbox: Be here now

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, Opinion, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous

Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

Games die. It's an unpleasant reality but a reality just the same, with the highest-profile death on the horizon being Star Wars Galaxies. Business decisions get made, and unfortunately, sometimes those decisions boil down to "this game is no longer worth the money to keep it running." If you're lucky, the announcement comes with a great deal of time for you to wrap up what you've always wanted to do in the game; if you're unlucky, you might have a couple of weeks before the servers go dark.

So what do you do as a player? How do you cope with the fact that the game is shutting down? There are a lot of approaches, but I think it's unfortunate that most of the reactions seem to center around some last-ditch effort to save the game from oblivion. It's entirely missing the point to try and pull the game back from the brink of death, and it does a disservice to both the game and the players when you spend your last days desperately fighting a foregone conclusion.

Continue reading The Soapbox: Be here now

The Soapbox: Be here now originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ask Massively: Clearly I need more totally random pictures edition

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 26 May 2011 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, Massively Meta, Ask Massively, Miscellaneous

So apparently, having a picture of a BattleMech as the header for Ask Massively makes everyone expect that there's some big news about a BattleTech MMO somewhere to be found. Sorry, folks -- I'd like it just as much as you would, although I'm not sure that it would necessarily turn out to be very good. (There's not a lot to do outside of a 'Mech and not much to do inside of one other than shoot things.) Luckily, I'm pretty sure that it will not be possible to misconstrue this week's image. I certainly hope not.

Today's discussion has absolutely nothing to do with the above picture, which is usually the case. Instead, we're talking about integrated voice chat in games and the apparent immortality of Ultima Online. If you've got a question you would like answered in a future edition of Ask Massively, just drop us a line at ask@massively.com or leave your question in the comment field.

Continue reading Ask Massively: Clearly I need more totally random pictures edition

Ask Massively: Clearly I need more totally random pictures edition originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 26 May 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Shut a game down or let it waste away?

Eliot Lefebvre — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, Patches, Endgame, The Matrix Online, Opinion, Vanguard, Miscellaneous

It's not exactly a good time to be a player of Vanguard. Actually, it hasn't been a good time for more than a year now -- while the game isn't shutting down, the December letter that essentially announced the game's development was no longer ongoing was a serious blow to the game's vitality. What's in the game now may very well be all that will ever be in the game. Of course, you can argue that the players are still better off than members of The Matrix Online's community, since that game went completely offline.

But is that really better? Many Vanguard fans almost wanted the game to turn off when SOE made the first announcement, and perhaps in some ways it's better to shut down with grace than waste away on progressively slower and smaller updates. Which would you rather face in your favorite game? A slow fading into the darkness, where the game is still online but less vibrant with each day? Or a cancellation that removes the game forever, cutting you off from an old friend but granting closure?

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: Shut a game down or let it waste away? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: 2009's defining moment

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Academic

The look back has already started here and there, and we've got only two days left -- assuming you count today. And we've seen a lot of things happen over the last year, which everyone on-staff has their own opinion about. To some, it was the year of free-to-play. To others, it was the year of dying games. But there's no way to encapsulate everything about 2009 into just one statement, with the industry still changing and evolving. Sometimes even seemingly small changes are what we remember (fondly or otherwise) when viewed in hindsight.

Out of all of the things that happened this year, what struck you as the most defining moment? Was it something major, such as the end of Tabula Rasa or The Matrix Online? Or was it something minor that other players might not even notice? Did it make the whole year better, worse, or was it simply a turning point? What seems like it's going to stick in your memory when you think back on the year as a whole? And as a connected topic, what seems like a big deal at the moment that you're pretty certain isn't as important as people say?

The Daily Grind: 2009's defining moment originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Avoiding a sinking game

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, The Matrix Online, Opinion, Tabula Rasa, Vanguard

With the holiday season usually comes a healthy dose of gift money, and what comes with extra money for many people reading the site is new games. It's not as if the past year has been exactly spare on game releases, although the success of several is a bit up in the air. But be forewarned -- if you needed the reminder, 2009 could very well be the year we learned that no title is immune to being shut down, with Tabula Rasa and The Matrix Online being among the highest-profile games to finally be shut down for good due to sales figures.

Bio Break has an excellent post on what is termed "avoiding the Titanic" -- in short, making sure that you're not signing up for a game that's going to just leave you high and dry. The recent announcement from Vanguard is among the examples cited, although some fans would be quick to point out it's not a death knell for the game. But it doesn't sound like the game is going to advance far beyond its current state, and for many games, that means a slow bleeding-out. Of course, avoiding titles that are perceived as hopeless can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it's worth keeping in mind that perhaps that money might be better spent if you question a game's near future.

Avoiding a sinking game originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Matrix Online update 61 brings new storyline missions

William Dobson — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, Patches, The Matrix Online

A bit over a month since we saw Update 60, The Matrix Online has been patched with Update 61, and there are two main reasons for fans to be excited. The first is a continuation of TMO's storyline, with Chapter 10.3 and new critical missions, and the second is the opening of a new construct called Sati's Playground. At the playground, you will be able to spawn sequences of enemies by using special items, and some new vendors and collectors relating to this construct have also been added.

There has already been one critical mission during the week relating to Chapter 10.3, and there will be another one each Thursday for four more weeks. You can get the full patch notes at TMO's community site.

Matrix Online update 61 brings new storyline missions originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

SOE provides handy guide to cross-game communication in EQ

William Dobson — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, EverQuest, EverQuest II, PlanetSide, Game mechanics, Tips and tricks, The Matrix Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Vanguard

Sony Online Entertainment is responsible for quite a number of MMOs, and they've got a useful system in place to allow communication with people across their game worlds. However, many people either don't know about this system, or simply don't know how to wrangle it into doing what they want. To help with this, SOE has written a guide illustrating how EverQuest players can chat to their friends in other games.

The games that EQ players can send both private messages and in-game mail to are EverQuest II, Planetside, Vanguard, The Matrix Online, and Star Wars: Galaxies. It's also possible to communicate with players on different EQ servers, but many of the servers have abbreviations that must be used in the commands -- these can be found in the guide. Now don't go acting all surprised when you're hiding from a guild raid on another server and your guild master sends you a tell!

SOE provides handy guide to cross-game communication in EQ originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Big Fish Games reels in MMO developer Thinglefin

William Dobson — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:30:00 EST

Filed under: Asheron's Call, MMO industry, New titles, The Matrix Online, News items, Browser

Big Fish Games have tossed their line in to the gaming industry, and pulled up Thinglefin, a team composed of people that worked on The Matrix Online and Asheron's Call. Awful puns aside, it would seem that Thinglefin's proposed in-browser MMO, covered by Worlds in Motion earlier in the year, is a good acquisition for Big Fish Games as it fits with their more casual lineup of games.

The article from Worlds In Motion gave a few more details about Thinglefin's new game, including comments on the company's blog from founder Toby Ragaini (who was also the lead designer for The Matrix Online and Asheron's Call). He said that it will be free to play, will run in a browser without the need to download or install anything from them, and that there will be some premium features that people can choose to pay for.

[Via Gamasutra]

Big Fish Games reels in MMO developer Thinglefin originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments