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Closed up the 2007 Indie MMO Game Development Conference today. It was a very enlightening experience for me, realizing how much I have been looking at games from a developer’s viewpoint instead of a gamer’s viewpoint. The people attending this conference are extremely passionate about making MMOs. Not only that, they are willing and able to take the risks the big companies cannot and try something radically different. The next revolution in MMOs will almost certainly come from the Indie MMO arena.
The keynote speech this morning was given by Dr. Richard Bartle. It was a fantastic talk about the history of independent game development and how the time is ripe for Indie MMOs to really make a difference in the next few years. I could probably sit and listen to him talk for a whole weekend. It was a pity that we only had a few hours.
Continue reading IMGDC 2007 Day Two
I’m back from day one of the 2007 Indie MMO Game Development Conference. With regrets to Nicodemus for telling him I wasn’t going to write up anything, here are some of my thoughts.
I arrived to find the Minneapolis Convention Center packed with girls valleyball, girls dance and a karate tournament. Eventually I found my way to the IMGDC conference rooms. Several people I recognized right away – Dr. Richard Bartle and Brian “Psychochild” Green. I quickly found Robert/”Nicodemus” but was surprised he wasn’t smoking a pipe as his pictures always show.
Continue reading IMGDC 2007 Day One
The Lord of the Rings Online Special Edition will be available in limited quantities and contains a number of benefits & bonuses priced at just $59.99 MSRP. The Special Edition includes:
* Full Game on 2 DVD’s
* 30-days of free online play
* Free 10-day Buddy Key
* The “Beyond the Shadows. . .The Making of The Lord of the Rings Online†DVD – A collection of videos that show how Turbine brought the Books of J.R.R. Tolkien to life. Hear from the game’s designers and see their work from concept to completion.
* The Lord of the Rings Online Soundtrack – In-game soundtrack of the Shire, Rivendell, Bree, Thorin’s Hall and Angmar.
* Exclusive In-Game Item – “The Glass of Aglarel†– Carrying this in-game jewel will increase your Hope to aid you against the effects of Dread brought on by the Witch-king and his minions.
* A Full Color Special Edition Manual
* Exclusive map of Middle-earth
Note: This is NOT a Collector’s Edition and there does not appear to be plans to have one (in North America anyway – Europe is getting one). This is just the same box with some extra stuff.
– Ethic
It’s time for another outburst. I have not had a lot of time to play anything in depth, so I just came up with some random thoughts to share.
World of Warcraft: My wife wants Blizzard to add an option to stop earning XP. Her level 35 Hunter has 8 days /played. Mine? 4 days. She spends a lot of time talking when she could be out playing with other people instead of saving her XP for grouping with me.
Continue reading Random Thoughts
We have a forum, here. Call it an experiment. I think there are already too many forums, but I wanted to have some place less informal to do things like offer invites or talk about movies. I’ll get rid of it, if it gains no interest.
– Ethic
I have been thinking about reactivating a few games in order to do a mini-review on any changes that may have occurred. The two games are Auto Assault and Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. Oddly enough, both games have offered free reactivation for this weekend (actually Auto Assault is giving 10 days).
Continue reading Reactivation Weekend
[EVE Online] A recent email from CCP offered me a free 7 day come back offer. Figuring it was a good way to train a skill for free (skills train in real time even if your account is closed), I popped in to see what was new. I found myself staring straight into the drama of space.
It appeared that my former corporation in EVE, Ars Caelestis, had been disbanded by the CEO. In fact, the claims were such that he stole lots of ISK on his way to the full and final destruction of the corp. The CEO, Achilles Thorongmor, did not go quietly into the night as I expected. I thought some of you might find it interesting to see some of the things that go on in EVE Online and I leave it to you to decide what is right and what is wrong.
Continue reading Space Drama
[ToonTown] It was my son’s birthday recently and he asked if I could set up ToonTown for him to play another month. I figured I would, even though I had a bad taste in my mouth from the extra steps I had to do in order to cancel it last time.
I logged in and set up a subscription for the account. I hit submit and it sits there for about 5 minutes. Finally I get a message telling me to call a toll-free number for assistance. OK, nevermind – I’ll just make a free 3-day account for him and try the subscription after that expires. Three days later, same problem. They accept PayPal, so I try to pay with that hoping for a better result but I have no such luck. So, I make the call.
Continue reading Back to ToonTown. Not.
Disneyworld is fun. However, I think if you went every weekend, you would lose a lot of the magic. Many MMOs are the same for me. Fun, but if you play a lot, you can lose the magic. Sometimes, bringing someone new along awakens the magic once again. I have been experiencing this in World of Warcraft lately, with my wife playing an MMO for the very first time. I can see the fun and magic all over again. I also experienced it in The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.
Last weekend was a whole bundle of fun events and I’d like to share some them.
Continue reading Fun.
[The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar] I was listening to Brent’s 53rd podcast from VirginWorlds last night and he brought up an interesting point about The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. While I did not agree with some of his impressions, his comment about the Intellectual Property (IP) being powerful is very true.
He questioned the fun of the game, if you removed the IP. I have to admit, the setting has been a huge appeal for me and I think he is right – if you remove The Lord of the Rings from The Lord of the Rings Online, the game does not stand up all that well. Personally, I have been enjoying the setting a heck of a lot more than the actual game. I did not really understand that before. I have decided to spend more time playing the game and not being so into the setting and see if I can find some other reasons to play the game.
Continue reading The Power of IP
