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No, forget Guild Wars, you need to do a lot of PvE to get a good PvP char. Vendetta Online is what you want. There is no die rolling, it's all twitch combat.

Here's an "indie game quasi-success story": Vendetta Online is a space-based MMORPG developed by 4 people (Guild Software). It has been online for about a year now, and has a few players (several hundred, maybe more). The fact that it's made by such a small company is part of its charm- regular content updates and bugfixes, quick support from the dedicated devs, lots of personal contact, etc. We even get new features for free (like the upcoming player-controllable capital ships). Can a large company beat that? I think not. And, hell, it's only $10/month. Less if you buy multiple months. The tech's not bad- high poly models, high-resolution textures, some purty pixel+vertex shader effects. w00t!

Vendetta is another option for space-sim lovers. It also runs on Linux and OSX (and used to run on MacOS9, BeOS and Irix).

Excellent post.

I agree with everything you said. I do think there is a place for player-created content, but the framework in which it's built needs to be more comprehensive and specialized. You can't expect players (in general) to produce professional-level content, but you can, for instance, give them the tools to provide jobs/quests/missions for other players. You have to give them an in-game motive for doing so, and the kind of economy that allows them to provide the reward. And above all, you need a cutting-edge, friend-of-a-friend reputation system to allow the good stuff to rise to the top, and the abuse/crap to be quickly filtered out.

And, as you said, if you're going to take the time to build such a game, and accumulate good player content, it should be built to last, and updated often without additional cost. Luckily, there are at least a few people who get this, and are doing something about it. I work for a small company with a released (but never done) MMO called Vendetta Online. Check it out

they made this into a Hollywood movie.

I totally agree with you. I have high hopes, though, that with all the half-complete projects by amateurs and small studios, some genuinely new (and really fun) gameplay will emerge. Right now I play Vendetta Online because its an MMORPG that you can have fun in without a lot of treadmilling. Guild Software also gets my 10 bucks a month because they are a tiny, privately owned company run by "real gamers". Their goal is to have a self-sustaining game world where seasoned players make new content, and the revenue they take in goes straight into developer salaries so they can keep adding features. Unlike companies with big publishing deals, they don't follow the release it, rake in the money, move on to the next project model. Its not uncommon to see them in the game, helping big events go smoothly and such.

Oh... and there are Mac and Linux clients!

The hardcore gamer doesn't think of gaming as a relaxing activity, but as an outlet for their egomania; its often the one thing they're really good at.

For a game to be wildly successful, it helps to have the hype-machine that is the hardcore gamer croud, but the game has to be something you can escape into.

MMOs are the wave of the future as far as this goes, because there are many interesting activities incorporating other human beings (usually more fun to interact with) in cooperative ways rather than in pure back-stabbing competition.

My favorite right now is http://vendetta-online.com/ , not because it has every feature I could want, but because it is developer-owned and they just want to keep getting paid to make the game better. It has changed more since release last Nov. than most games change with an expansion pack they charge extra for.

Vendetta Online is one of the MMORPG space games with more of a focus on the ship to ship combat than the level grinds. And as an added bonus they support Linux out of the box. As a smaller independent development team it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of some of the major league players, but I've been impressed with the direction they're taking the game.

two words: Vendetta Online

Some do have a free download and even a free trial. Go give Vendetta a try.

Anyone who knows Vendetta?

check it out - you have 8 hours to play for free.
http://www.vendetta-online.com/

And yes, Vendetta runs on Linux, OSX and the other system out there.

Vendetta Online was updated once more just minutes ago.

First update introduced Asteroid Mining on the 15th of November.
Second update introduced a Galactic News system and NPC traders, on the 22nd of November
Today's update adds a Bounty system for glorifying a bit those pesky pirates and letting players become bounty hunters, plus a number of tweaks on ships and weapons. And special goodies for the few players who managed to fufill all 120 prospecting missions.

there is Vendetta Online - runs on a Mac .. but dunno if you will like it.

Shame Legends doesn't run on a Mac - it runs on FreeBSD and Linux though. A port shouldn't be too much trouble to write - says , pretty clueless about porting stuff :)

I can't believe people accept that if they pay $39.99 for the game they are getting to play it "free for one month." /me knocks on the fools head "Hello in there. You just paid over twice the monthly fee for your 'free month'." I wish MMOs would adopt the business model that Vendetta Online is using. You can go to the store, buy the box which comes with goodies like a map and a plastic disc, and get your "free month." Or, you can go to the website, download the installer, and then play for a free eight hours. What is so wrong with that that games like CoH can't do that? "Free month" indeed.

I've been betatesting this game for, um, a few years now. It's the greatest game ever. Here's some reasons:
Scalable Graphics engine- works on the lowest of low end, is beautiful on high end

The lowest of low end??? From the FAQ:

"1ghz Pentium III or Athlon processor, 256MB of RAM, 3D Hardware Accelerator - Fully OpenGL compatible 32MB videocard with Hardware Transformation & Lighting (T&L), and latest drivers."

Is 1GHz processor and 32MB hardware accelerator a "lowest of low end" in your opinion or does the FAQ entry explain the full graphics details, highest resolution, etc.? I'm curious because I have 450MHz AMD K6-II and 4MB non-accelerated graphics card. I am a long fan of Elite and Frontier and when I read that Vendetta runs on Linux I was considering buying a 16MB Voodoo3 graphics card only for that game and subscribing. Does it mean that I should forget about it or the FAQ is incorrect and the game would run fine?

(I don't have Slashdot account but I will keep checking out this thread for your answer. Thanks.)

I played the Beta for a while. It was fun for about the first week. Then, the grind started to get to me.

I know a lot of people seem to like this type of game, but really the fact is I don't want to feel like I'm working while I'm playing a video game, and to me most MMPORG's feel like work, not play.

That, and the PVP aspect of it felt very broken. The classes had serious balance issues, and level was almost everything. (i know, it was beta, maybe it will get better but i'd be surprised).

Dunno, but after playing games like Vendetta for a while, I see less of a reason to the WoW angle. Vendetta does something that every game should aspire to. The better skilled player wins the battles, not the highest level player. A very low level play can clean up against much higher level unskilled players, which is how it should be.

Guess I just don't have to time to dedicate to get to be one of those highest level characters running around, and I'd rather not get my ass handed to me just because someone doesn't have a job and can put 10 hours a day into a game.

No multi crew ships but I hear it may be coming in the near future. They have been talking about these giant ships they call capitol ships which are supposed to have tremendous fire power, etc. Go check out the back story to get an idea of what they may have planned and what's in the game now. It's a very entertaining read.

I've been betatesting this game for, um, a few years now. It's the greatest game ever. Here's some reasons:

• Scalable Graphics engine- works on the lowest of low end, is beautiful on high end
• Engrossing Gameplay- What can I say? It's entirely unique, and entirely fun.
• Great Community- this is not like CS, where it's all the 13373573R5 mouthing off. It's got a RPG-worthy community.
• Great Dev Team- 4 guys. And they did it all. If you have a bug, they fix it. They're available pretty much all the time. What more can a player want?
• A Future- They've got a capital-ships addon underway (will be *supposedly* a free download), and they release updates every week or so, with new features and bugfixes.
• Tri-Platform- OS X, Linux, Windows, whatever suits you, the game runs great. It even kinda runs on BSD and BeOS!

If you're not playing this game already, you're missing out on a great game. So GO JOIN!

Tux on the box

Same price for all platforms

Fastpaced game action with PvP

Skillbased combat system, not "most expensive stuff wins"

Fastpaced, no "point, click, wait"

Minimal grinding (no hoursof waiting for the minings)

Developer contact. Several player ideas have been implemented, some within days

Developers actually ingame

Unfortunately addictive

Might I introduce you to Vendetta Online?

Its Twitch based FPS, you ship is your sole avatar. There is a level-grind with missions to unlock the avaiability of higher level ships (basically, lighter mass, some various tradeships that carry more cargo and so on) but its light enough that I can do it in a couple of hours.

There is even more concern that various factions in space actually have to -like- you in order to sell you the improved versions of ships, sure. anywhere where you aren't a criminal will sell you a ship. But the price might be high, and you won't get that low-mass a bit more agile and a bit improved hull version.

However, the game is entirely skillbased when it comes to space-combat. There is not an uberness of strike +100 vorpal rockets, nor can you buff your ship more than anyone just because you've been grinding for two days.

And you can't auto-grind either, since you actually pilot your ship in the FPS sense.

As for the games status, I've seen it change quite a bit (early tester / alpha) with a small devteam (4 people) who actually listen to the community (and partake ingame). Garage style development, with a fairly solid base.

oh. And appearantly it will go live on monday, which I rather regret. No more free game for me :(

If space MMORGs are your thing, you might consider checking out Vendetta online, which is currently in Beta testing and features Windows, Linux and Mac clients.

This is the same Vendetta that had been alpha testing for ages, looked like it wasn't going to happen, got all but abandoned and yet somewhere from the ashes the developers have pulled out the stops and built a mission-based, group-orientated space fighting and trading MMORG. So far so good and if you see "Nexus 6" knocking around, give me a couple of shots across the bows and say hello.

Cheers,
Toby Haynes

Can't say what they will give you -- though Vendetta Online is just comming out of beta. It runs on Windows (many versions), Linux, and OS X.

The forums might have more details.

Sign up for the beta before they ship!

Summary of Vendetta: A team game with some personal character development. Very smooth flight sim -- very playable. Some eye candy, though not tons. The universe is dynamic and huge; each sector has over 100 areas in it and there are dozens of sectors. Wormholes to other sectors. Have up to 6 characters in any of the 3 factions. Factions 'own' sectors. Faction standing is based on your actions. Defense and pirate bots. Status and skill lead to new/bigger/powerful ships. Cruisers and larger ships will play a role (haven't seen any in months...though they take some heavy pounding before they can be destroyed).