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Star Wars Galaxies
Bastard0 writes "There are some new screen shots today from the new Star Wars Galaxies massively multi-player online game on " The pictures are looking really good. If the game is less boring the Everquest, then they may have a hit on their hands. Meanwhile I'm beta testing the diablo 2 expansion, and for the first time in like 3 years, I have 'CmdrTaco' as my nick in a sizable online system.
If the game is less boring the Everquest, then they may have a hit on their hands.
Don't you get it? The game doesn't matter at all! If you get 100 people together with the idea that they are going to have fun, guess what? They will have fun to the extent that the game DOESN'T GET IN THE WAY.
This is the lesson of the real-time, real-space role-playing business; of the entire fantasy-role playing game business; indeed, of the entire entertainment business as a whole. People do not have fun because you have MADE THEM to have fun, but because you have found a way to facilitate their own pleasures and enjoyment.
The biggest problem of most multi-player games is this: the computer gets in the way. The network gets in the way. And if there is TOO MUCH GAME, the game gets in the way.
The problem with most massively multi-player games is this: the community gets in the way. Unless you naturally break out the community into solid sub-communities with which people can interact, all you have is a complex game with really good AI's. Not bad for a complex game, but nothing like the potential of an interactive game.
People-people games are fun, exciting and interesting. When I used to gamemaster large real-space games at conventions, the lesson we learned was that the most important thing to do, both in game design and moderation, is to get out of the way. Let players interact, and interact well. Control them subtly only, and let their minds entertain one another.
That's the real deal: the game doesn't matter. It's important to some extent, of course -- in that it is the putative reason a community comes together to game. But the game itself isn't the thing -- the people are.
What kind of ass could C-3PO possibly kick? What's his special weapon--bitching at people till they die?
Well, for all the people shouting for a Linux MMORPG, you can always go visit the nice people over at Worldforge.
They've made a lot of progress recently, and there's an updated status report and some screenshots for those of you who like eye candy.
What would Lemmy do?
I'm betting you'll need a godly connection to be able to get those kinds of graphics.
Yep, I'm sure you'll also need a pretty good video-card to get the full audio experience. And I'm sure anyone with a cheap soundcard will get terrible pings.
That was a problem with the old Star Wars MUDs that I used to play. Everyone wanted to be a Jedi, which isn't exactly true to the image of the series. One solution I saw was that everyone had a class (like figher or trader) but could also become a Jedi. I didn't think it was a good solution, but I can't think of any good solution.