Category: MMORPG

About roleplay-servers in MMOs

Two articles that popped up on MMORPG.com in recent days both touched on the same subject – roleplay servers in MMOs.

The first one, by Dana Massey, denounce roleplay servers as unenforceable, virtually identical to regular servers and generally a major pain in the ass for those who have to moderate them.

Sanya Weathers wrote a follow-up of sorts, a more interesting (IMO) article concerning the difficulties facing a developer when setting up (and maintaining) roleplay-servers in MMOs.

If you haven’t already, go read both articles, then come back here – I’ll wait.

*hums a tune to himself whilst waiting*

Done? Okay: First off, I’ll say straight out that I think the first article mentioned is too subjective, too extreme and too obviously meant to provoke – roleplayers in particular, I guess. This article doesn’t really give me anything, as I have quite the opposite view when it comes to the continued existence of roleplay-servers. I guess I’m part of the target audience for that specific article!

I find Sanya’s article much more interesting though, as she tries to lay out clearly the problems with roleplay servers from a developers point of view, and ways in which to make those problems less (of a problem). At the end of  Sanya’s article, she lists a number of things which she sees as the minimum required feature-list any MMO-developer should offer for roleplay-specific servers. Having been on multiple sides of that table already, both as a player and as a designer, I started thinking a bit myself, about what features a dedicated roleplay server ought to, well… feature.

Read on for my thoughts on the matter.
Continue reading “About roleplay-servers in MMOs”

About the Laws of Online World Design – Part II

This is the second installment in a series of posts I’ll be making about The Laws of Online World Design, as explained in this introductory post. I will start at the top of the list, and work my way down until I’ve poked and prodded every law in the list, not skipping any unless I really feel like it. In this, Part II of the series, I’ll concentrate on the following law:
Modes of expression

This is the second installment in a series of posts I’ll be making about The Laws of Online World Design, as explained in this introductory post. I will start at the top of the list, and work my way down until I’ve poked and prodded every law in the list, not skipping any unless I really feel like it. In this, Part II of the series, I’ll concentrate on the following law:

  • Modes of expression

Continue reading “About the Laws of Online World Design – Part II”

I Would Play It If…

Saw the following meme/game thingy at MMO Gamers and thought I’d jump on the band wagon since I have nothing else to write about at the moment. The goal, according to Bio Break (where this little game originated), is to finish the following statement with a simple response, substituting different games into the sentence:

“I would play [TITLE OF MMORPG] if…”

Here are mine, listed in random order:

  • I would play World of Warcraft if it didn’t require as much time as it does to keep up with my always-raiding friends
  • I would play Ultima Online if I travelled through time back to 1998, or 1999, or 2000, or 2001, or 2002. And maybe 2003.
  • I would play Eve Online if it were more like Elite, and if you could fly seamlessly between space and individual planets
  • I would play the Wheel of Time MMO if it actually gets made and released, no matter the quality of the game itself. I am a WoT fanboy, after all.
  • I would play City of Heroes/Villains if I could only come up with a decent design for a superhero/arch-villain
  • I would play EverQuest 2 if I hadn’t already played a trial version of it, during which I found out that I hated the visual style of the game
  • I would play Runescape if I was 12, or if no other MMO existed
  • I would play Warhammer Online if it didn’t look and feel like a slightly twisted version of World of Warcraft (yes, I see the irony there…)
  • I would play Lineage 2 if not for nightmares of horrible, horrible GRRIIINDIIIiing
  • I would play Lord of the Rings Online if I ever should feel like having a mug of ale in The Prancing Pony
  • I would play Darkfall if I hadn’t already had my fill of getting ganked by random PKers ten years ago – and if it was actually for sale

In other news, round 2 of our (mine and Babak‘s) little blogging contest starts on the 17th/18th of May and will as usual last for one month. We use this as a method to “force” ourselves to put on our blogging hats more often, and hopefully it will lead to a whole bunch of new blog posts from the both of us.