Category: General

[World of Warcraft] Again, Blizzard never ceases to amaze me how well they can completely screw over hundreds of thousands of paying customers.

Same routine as before. I was instructed to reinstall the game. I attempted that, now I’m stuck with an even more infuriating problem. The game will not install, I’ve tried everything blizzard suggests to do in the case of a CRC error, which is listed in the link below.

Hell I’ve even tried the rest of the crap they mention on that page, and it still comes to that same error on the last stretch of the last install CD. I’m pissed, I’m done, and if I can’t get this resolved in a few days, I’m canceling my account, I’ve had it up to the high end with Blizzards Fisher Price Patch network, not to mention the non existant CS team.

linkage

-Zxyrox

[UltraCorps] For those interested in browser-based games, Steve Jackson Games just announced that UltraCorps will be having its first multi-player open alpha test. There will be slots for 393 players for a 20-day game. You can follow any of those links to get a bit more information.

This offer expires at 10:00pm, January 2, or when all 393 slots are full. If you are interested and miss this test run, more tests are likely to ensue before UltraCorps goes live.

: Zubon

Let’s go back and take a look at my 2005 MMORPG predictions and see how close I was.

World of Warcraft: Will continue to dominate the casual playerbase. Hardcores will move on. Will become the number one MMOG in the USA.

Looks pretty good, but perhaps that one was too easy.

Asheron’s Call 2: Won’t make it to 2006.

Ouch. Dead on.

Everquest 2: Completely gives up on the casual player market and focuses on the powergamers, thus raping Everquest.

Wrong. It appears that EQ2 has been trying to lure the casuals over to the SOE camp. I got this game as a gift for Christmas, perhaps I’ll give it a try.

Continue reading Looking Back: Ethic’s 2005 MMORPG Predictions

[EVE Online] I just applied for a position that CCP is advertising for on their jobs page. What fun would that be? I would think, lots. I have a lot of respect for the company and the position pretty much describes me and my skills. It would require a pretty major relocation but I’m perfectly willing to do that (and so is my family).

So send some good vibes towards Reykjavik, Iceland for me. I know it’s a long shot, but thanks!

– Ethic

[City of Heroes] For those who had not heard, Marvel sued Cryptic because you can make superheroes that look like copyrighted heroes (although Cryptic resets those characters to “GenericHero####). While this would also suggest that they sue Microsoft, since you can do the same thing in Paint, and Bic, fine maker of pens, I understand why companies are worried about dilution of intellectual property. Copyright precedent holds that if you do not defend your right to exclusive ownership, you may de facto give it up. This is why Tivo does not want to be a generic word for DVRs, Xerox for photocopiers, or Kleenex for facial tissue.

I presume that there is more to this than is stated, but it sounds like Cryptic won unconditionally. Whatever it is that Marvel got out of this, it apparently does not require Cryptic to change anything in character creation. Maybe Cryptic just needs to say, “and we mean it!” when reseting the 4,057th Storm-Electricty defender named “Ororo.”

So a win for Cryptic and sanity. I presume that Marvel also has a press release announcing that they got everything they wanted out of this suit, it is a great win for shareholders, and by the way we have our own MMORPG coming out soon.

: Zubon

Does everyone have to turn down team invitations every five minutes?

City of Heroes lets you set a LFG flag to a variety of settings. I indicate that I am soloing by leaving if off. This does not seem to deter people. If I am in a mission, I cannot be invited, so I am safe there except for the occasional /tell asking if I would like to quit my mission and join theirs. In the time it takes me to fly between missions, someone will send me an invitation or, more politely, an /tell asking if I am LFG.

Apparently, they believe that I would like to be on a team, but I am not competent enough to operate the LFG button. That is not the level of competency you want your healer to have.

Continue reading I Am So Popular

Well, my MMORPG addiction came to a screeching hault a few weeks ago (read my last post) when my dorm internet decided it hated me. I thought it might be my computer, but alas, I took my PC home and it worked fine. I can only deduce that it must my dorm internet…

So here I am, sitting in a cold room with stone walls. I think my eyelids might be a little red. I don’t dare look into the mirror. I’m too scared. That’s right, I haven’t played World of Warcraft in two WHOLE weeks. What’s the point in playing when I get disconnected five minutes after logging in? It’s no fun striking up colorful conversations with your guild when all of a sudden you can’t type and everyone around you begins to aimlessly run into walls and not turning. It’s called lag, my friends, and it’s painful.

Continue reading Substitute For Crack

Many gamers doubt the value of the gaming press because game developers can effectively buy positive coverage. They can offer magazines and web sites exclusive information, advertising dollars, free games for testing, and presumably other enticements that are escaping me just now.

Unless Ethic is hoarding the loot, I can assure you that no such thing happens here. We’re getting squat. No free copies, beta invitations, or even requests to check out a game on our own dime. Zip. Maybe it is our lack of advertising, or perhaps the gentle way that we explain our thoughts on issues in our current games.

If this continues, I must assume word has gotten around that we are moral paragons, above the influence of petty bribery or corporate chicanery.

: Zubon

[Asheron’s Call] My first MMO was Asheron’s Call, a game I looked at only because my entire gaming group was playing it. At that point, I thought Ultima Online was a theoretical plan for what online D&D could look like; I knew of EverQuest as some fantasy RPG that I had seen in stores, but I had never heard of anyone actually playing it. Yeah.

My friends tended to play games on a 3-4 month cycle. Start, get obsessed, burnout and set it aside. They were apparently in AC’s beta, because they were approaching the burnout cycle as the game went live. I was always the late adopter of games, partly because I did not have a computer that would handle it, partly because I was poorer than most of them and so did not buy many games. Two friends let me make a character on each of their accounts, so I tried it out when one of them was off somewhere. This was just before the Sudden Season, the first event/monthly update.

Don’t we all love our early game experience? We spend the rest of our time in games trying to capture that magic of first discovery.

Continue reading I Miss Mayoi

Today is my birthday. Almost 40. Damn. Why am I still awake at 12:01 AM? Go to bed right now. OK.

– Ethic