Category: General

Ethic posted recently about the troubled fall of Ars Caelestis in Eve online. I am not going to rehash the details or even summarize it here. You can just click the link and read about it yourself.

Why did this happen? Was it fair play or foul play? I think many people reading and commenting on Ethic’s post are missing something critical and important.

If something happens solely inside of a game, within the context and limitations of the game’s rules, mechanics, and community expectations for what is fair, then fine. But if something in-game is affected by actions out of game, then it is an entirely different situation.

Continue reading Space Drama: Fair or Foul?

Why do so many people have the gall to compare new products and services to existing ones you could buy instead?

We were trying a new coffee bar recently, and for some reason my friend kept comparing it to Starbucks. I mean, hello, they are trying to do something entirely different with coffee here. They have some new flavors, and the logo on the cups is not the same at all. It’s not like Starbucks invented ground beans or was the first company to use those little insulating sleeves. If Starbucks is so much better, why are you still drinking your coffee?

Continue reading It Is Not WoW

If your current game offered a lifetime subscription for $200, would you take it? I have friends who are looking back at their years in Asheron’s call and thinking, “Wow, I could have saved $500 by now with that deal…”

: Zubon

Ah, March is a wonderful month. I’ve been lurking behind the scenes for a few months working on some *stuff*, but now that the seasons are changing and Springtime is on the way, I figured it was time for me to crawl out of my cave and say hello.

I will be a guest speaker at the Indie MMO Game Development Conference in Minneapolis (April 14-15). Come check it out. I’ll be hosting a wet t-shirt contest for some hotty elf chicks and you don’t want to miss out on that.

Read on for some opinions and ranting!

Continue reading Nicodemus delurks…

Sometimes, someone says something so perfectly and succinctly that any commentary would only weaken the effect, although we can discuss it as if this were a poetry reading. Without further ado, I present Camelot Addict for February 19 and 21.

: Zubon

The latest free online game I have been messing with is Travian. Think of it as a simpler version of Sim City or Civilization: one village (to start), build up resources, make buildings, raid your neighbors. It plays slowly, but there is a 3x speed server. I am told that it is not so slow once you are into the raiding game, since you have your resources and those of your (potentially inactive) neighbors.

Tobold played for about a month. Looking ahead, I can already see myself going through the same progression, except that I have some fairly aggressive neighbors already (Ha! Eat my cranny! Wait, that sounds wrong…). Neat little toy, but will it hold my attention for long? Wars of conquest over other players rarely excite me, and I am sure that others have far more time to spend on this than I do if I wanted to be competitive at any point.

It is kind of hard to get that romance started when you can see the break-up coming. Is it fun to build things that you expect to fade with no closure? I lack even the illusion of permanence. I am still playing around with Rule the Seas, for some reason.

: Zubon

– Ethic

SOE has theirs and NCSoft is working on one. Turbine should give some very serious consideration to having one. In fact, it just might keep them alive. Fire up an old AC2 server and include it just for fun.

I can only see an upside for an all access pass for any MMO company that has more than one game. It would create more box sales and keep more customers playing. Can anyone think of the downsides?

Oh and while I’m at it: Family Plans.

UPDATE: SOE raised their price to $29 for their pass. Are they nuts?

– Ethic