The Kickstarter Thread

[Hurlshort]

There are more than 4-5 viable ones, right now you've got quite a few running on all sorts of different economic models.

 

WoW, Eve Online, GW2, EQ2, LotRO, Rift, TOR, Secret World, Age of Conan, DDO, Champions...the list goes on, and there are about a dozen Asian MMO's that do very well in their markets.

[Bester]

Wow was great during vanilla and TBC. Then it became a game for 8 year olds.

Eve is great, but not for my taste.

SWTOR is an okayish single player game that you play online.

Secret world is the same thing, except it's not even okayish.

GW2 is not worth considering as a game.

Age of Conan also.

Lotro also.

DDO - are you kidding me?

Bloodline champions is basically a moba game with no creeps. It's got nothing to do with MMO.

Now, there's AO that you forgot, and it's still a good MMO. Not for me though.

 

>Asian mmos

Asian mmos are for asians. They have a different mindset. The only asian MMO that white people could massively play was LA2.

[alanschu]

If you wish to discount MMOs because "I don't like them" that's one thing.

 

But that's pretty myopic and not really relevant when discussing relevant MMOs in the marketplace.

 

I don't play any of them (played lots of WoW and some TOR, and have realized I am burnt out on MMOs) but I can still recognize that there are plenty of "viable" MMOs out there.

[Bester]

If they all follow the same model and don't dare trying anything new, they're clones, not separate mmos. What does it matter who puts what money in which pocket. Some studios are sharing parts of the same audience between them, that's not mmo talk, that's marketing talk. If you want to talk MMO, talk MMO.

[alanschu]

 

If they all follow the same model and don't dare trying anything new, they're clones, not separate mmos.

 

Despite your attempts to redefine the world to your liking, they're still separate games.

 

Gaming industry in general is filled with clones, for better or worse.

 

 

If your goal is to have a discussion about MMOs while applying your own, Bester-unique definitions, then I will concede and you have won the argument.  I disagree with your distinction, and I think it's clear this discussion isn't going anywhere since we don't seem to be playing by the same rules and definitions.  You win.

[Oner]

Cute how they "don't try new things" but when they do (GW2) they're suddenly not worth to be considered a game.

Nevermind that *gasp* GW2 has RvR too.

But hey, CU has subscriptions! Just what I always wanted! And no DRM! In an MMO! Truly, we live in an age of prosperity!

 

Seeing your "deep" analysis of the games though, I question whether you ever played any of them.

 

Edit: missed a word

Edited April 4, 2013 by Oner

[Bester]

@Oner

Yes, all of them (even some asian mmos like aion), except DDO, which I bought, but never brought myself to play it after watching a few gameplay videos.

GW2 would require a long explanation, but in the end you'd be convinced.

 

@alanschu

It's like a debate of whether a clone of a person is a distinctive person or not. Most would say it starts being a distinctive person when it starts living its own life, therefore gaining its own unique experience and thus becoming distinct. Well those mmos aren't even trying to live their own life, so yeah, sorry. It's not about winning, I'm just stating my opinion. Don't take it so seriously :3

[Nordicus]

GW2 is not worth considering as a game.

I can do nothing else but refer you to the reply given in the case of Arkell v. Pressdram

[Hurlshort]

I have no idea what Bloodline Champions is, but I was referring to the superhero MMO Champions Online.  

 

Also, the word 'viable' seems to have a different definition for some folks.

[TSBasilisk]

Ritual Dementia makes its goal this time around

[alanschu]

I still hum the overworld map music sometimes.

 

Hahahaha yes!  Me too!

[Oerwinde]

Some of the discussions on the forums are interesting. Looks like they have 4 of the initial 6 races chosen, Humans, dwarves, elves, and undead. The last two are being debated, and seems to be between Goblinoid horde, dark elves, Draconians, or simply cultural offshoots of the first 4. The ideas for the goblinoid horde sounds incredibly interesting, essentially merging Trolls, Orcs, and Gnolls from the original game, and adding goblins to the mix. But with the ability to up and move entire cities. (Population, not buildings)

[alanschu]

I'm still debating contributing.  Unfortunately I don't have much knowledge with their games.

 

They have a lot of WW2 games (which has piqued my interest in them), though by the sounds of it the games tend to be not as deep as I would probably like (hello War in the Pacific!).  though MOM isn't an excessively deep/complex game either.

 

I might check  out their forums a bit.

[alanschu]

Hmmm.  Not sure if I agree with the course of some of the discussions haha.  Saw one that was pretty much about giving factions unique flavour names for the same units.  At the same time, that does help obfuscate the issue (Oh they have bowmen instead of archers.  Oh wait, they're the same?)

[Oerwinde]

Master of Magic did that too. Some races had Magicians, some Wizards, some Warlocks, but they were all essentially the same. One difference I liked though, was how some races didn't have organized religions, so didn't get priest units, instead they got Shamans, which had lesser requirements but were weaker.

[alanschu]

Magicians were different than Warlocks (I don't think Wizards was actually a unit variation).

Warlocks had more powerful ranged attack and Doombolt instead of Fireball (They were effectively a "unique unit" for Dark Elves).  That's a meaningful difference and deserves a unique name.

Edited April 4, 2013 by alanschu

[Oerwinde]

Ahh, that's right. Its been a while. Playing dark elves right now, but don't have warlocks yet.

[alanschu]

Although I have the combat music stuck in my head.... XD

[rjshae]

This crowdsourced game is on IndieGoGo:

 

Ghost of a Tale

 

The video character is kinda cute; I'm sure the young 'uns will probably love it.

[alanschu]

Hmmmm, the discussions on the forum for Worlds of Magic are giving me a bigger D&D vibe than MOM vibe.  Talk of classes, whether wizards need familiars, wizard units will be like d20 wizard units, and the like, classes/alignment, and so forth.

 

This one is likely shaping up to be a pass at this point, unfortunately.  I have no problems with d20 as combat mechanics, but if I'm getting all the D&D baggage with it, I have serious reservations about it undermining the "MOM" feeling

[Oerwinde]

With the Dark Elf discussion they were talking about actually using Drow, the name, the spider-worship, everything, because its part of D20. I can't pipe in because their forums are having issues with registration, but I'd rather they stick closer to MoM than go closer to D&D.

 

They released an image on their facebook page showing the spell circles. I told them it was stupid to have both Death and Necromancy circles, as well as both Fire and Destruction.

[alanschu]

I actually hadn't seen that thread.  The D&D overtones are a barrier to me contributing at this point.

[LadyCrimson]

Planet Explorer's 5th update details their plans for how a player can build settlements. It's fairly interesting, imo.

 

After more time spent with their current alpha, I think it's a mistake to dismiss or call this game a "Minecraft with better graphics." The thing is, the focus really isn't on the digging. Interacting with/altering the environment (flattening terrain to build farms or settlements, gathering resources) is a part of it, sure, but you don't have to actually do tons of "digging" if you don't want to, outside of minimum resources to build whatever you need/want. Or, you can spend all your time digging to the exclusion of all else. Freedom.

 

I don't know....it's really hard to explain the appeal of this game, even in it's rough stage. And of course it won't appeal to everyone. Plus it's still rough, especially the story aspect and NPC's (you can hire companions, btw). Still, I absolutely love it. If it wasn't US tax time I'd bump up my pledge to almost as high as I did for P.E.

 

P.S. even if one doesn't want to pledge, maybe one could go to Steam and Greenlight it? :D

P.P.S they're hoping to get a Mac version of the current alpha out before the KS is over.

[TSBasilisk]

Halaal: Frozen Sword

Made by a high school class using RPGMaker, their teacher is apparently looking for funds to provide enough laptops and copies of software to complete the game and start an elective class using it.

[Hurlshort]

Halaal: Frozen Sword

Made by a high school class using RPGMaker, their teacher is apparently looking for funds to provide enough laptops and copies of software to complete the game and start an elective class using it.

 

Interesting, but I'd rather see classes using Python and creating actual software rather than using RPGMaker.  Also, I read enough stuff from my students to know I have no interest in playing a game they would make. 

Edited April 5, 2013 by Hurlshot