[Warning: there are some TV Tropes links in here.]
I have confessed to contributing to self-fulfilling prophecies: if you do not commit to something/one because s/he/it may not be around for long, s/he/it probably will not be around for long. So how do you invest yourself in something when the producers have a left a wake of unfinished and canceled projects?
I just caught this over at MMOG Nation. Was not expecting Tabula Rasa to close. I figured they would fight it out for a good while before they ended up deciding to pull the plug.
To the Tabula Rasa Community,
Last November we launched what we hoped would be a ground breaking sci-fi MMO. In many ways, we think we’ve achieved that goal. Tabula Rasa has some unique features that make it fun and very different from every other MMO out there. Unfortunately, the fact is that the game hasn’t performed as expected. The development team has worked hard to improve the game since launch, but the game never achieved the player population we hoped for.
So it is with regret that we must announce that Tabula Rasa will end live service on February 28, 2009.
Before we end the service, we’ll make Tabula Rasa servers free to play starting on January 10, 2009.
- Ethic
I really want to go back to Tabula Rasa. I know that if I could afford to (or my wife would let me) subscribe to more than one game a month Tabula Rasa would be one of the top contendors. I loved just going in an blasting the $#!& out of mobs with my knockdown shotgun. Sometimes I would get so embroiled in a control point that an hour would pass… or I would run out of ammo and realize I hadn’t moved my character from a 200 ft. radius (filled with dead Bane) for 30 minutes. But, I won’t be coming back (even with all the cool stuff you are adding). Sorry, Richard. Sorry, NCSoft. A “better” game currently claims my $15 a month.
Akela Talamasca at Massively posted today about why he enjoys soloing through his favorite MMOs. This is something that I find myself enjoying as well and I’d like to share a few more reasons why it can be fun.
Akela lists his reasons as such:
Feeling of being a hero, not a nameless part of a team.
Inability to trust other players.
Time management.
For my situation, the first two certainly apply. I enjoy being the star of the show and I detest when other players lower my enjoyment of a game. Time management isn’t a big concern for me, as I tend to be the one scheduling the guild events and trying to get everyone together.
Tabula Rasa is sending out some choice quotes from various reviews and I thought it would be fun to pick my own quotes from the same reviews.
Lets start with the quote they chose from a Gamespy review:
“The MMO genre just got a serious dose of adrenaline thanks to Richard Garriott’s reinvention of online combat.” – Gamespy
Here is a quote from the same review chosen by me:
“… complaints about a memory leak and slowdown from the community … gameplay bugs … quests that won’t give the player credit for completing them … triggers that only go off for only a few members in a party, forcing players to run missions multiple times.” – Gamespy
Tabula Rasa has lifted the veil of silence on their Beta testing population, so those of us who were not invited to the party will finally get a glimpse into this newest of MMOs. Officially set to launch on October 19th, Tabula Rasa offers gamers a blend of FPS and traditional MMO elements that attempts to break with the fantasy MMO genre and offer ‘something new.’