Posted by
michael
on from the i-get-to-play-sauron-no-me-me dept.
learithe writes "A new Middle Earth MMORPG,
Middle Earth Online, has just
been announced by Turbine, who produced Asheron's Call 1 and
2 with
Microsoft. It
looks to be just as pretty and cpu/graphics card intensive as
AC2. More
(flash-free) information can be found at
IGN and
Gamespy."
I thought that I was done with MMORPGs. Ultima Online went all "candy land". Earth and Beyond was boring. It took too god damned long to get from point A to point B in Dark Age of Camelot. I had wrestled my life back from the clutches of these glamorus, yet malicious, time sinks.
Now they have both a Star Wars and a Middle Earth MMORPG. I hope I have some personal and sick days left in a couple of months, I'm gonna need them. All they need now is a "You get to bone Britney Spears in real life" *game* and I would instantly reach a state of Heavenly Nirvana and transcend to the plane of eternal bliss. Well, a "You get to bone Jolene Blalock in real life" game would work too.
-- The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Re:Here's hoping
by
Karhgath
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I do believe that the market is now ready for a Permanent-Death MMORPG. I mean, the market is so full of similar games that a trully different and risky feature such as this might be what's needed to get a good share of the market.
Sure, making a PD game requires planning it from the start, making every features in a way that PD is possible for everyone to ENJOY. There are lot of problems to solve, and those are solvable on paper, and probably in practice. I just wish one publisher had the balls to really do it.
I wouldn't bet that Turbine will keep the PD, I'm sure they won't. This sucks. I just wish there were still risky companies around like Looking Glass were. Ion Storm isn't bad with Deus Ex and now the sequel, although they used Looking Glass' legacy to build Deus Ex on... While you can be successful and make great games without being overly original and risky(Blizzard), we still need risky ventures to revolutionize and advance toward new and greener pastures.
Oh well, don't mind me, the old skeptic gamer, but I'm sure the new middle earth will just be a 'standard' MMORPG with some new and unrisky features and the same old gameplay, with some tweak here and there, and more importantly, the Tolkien world! Wow, quite a change of setting...
Please, someone, bring Permanent Death and more risky idea to the world of MMORPG and then, maybe, maybe I'll actually play one.
The first words you'll hear Frodo say...
by
Patoski
·
· Score: 5, Funny
When you initially log in and get ganked by some loser playing a hobbit.. "d00d! I 0wn0rz3d y00!!!!! LMAO!!!!"
*cringe*
I'm not looking forward to hearing those words from a hobbit...
I think I need to go reread LoTRs just to get that picture out of my head.
-- G. Washington on Government "it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
Re:Here's hoping
by
Karhgath
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
You are one of the many who do not think really about a PD system as a new beast completely. A PD game cannot just be EverQuest with PD added just like that. Everything, the whole game - economics, character advancement, features, etc. - everything must be built from the ground up to be Perma-Death. It's not as simple as adding PD or creating a PD server, as this will just fail and won't be useful at all. There is a real challenge of doing a PD game, and much reward I think.
However, for that, people must lose they preconceived ideas about permanent-death. I think I'll start the PDAA (PD Awareness Association). =)
Re:How can the game mirror the book?
by
Karhgath
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
That's why I think the perfect MMORPG in Middle Earth would be during the second age, or at least long before the LoTR. Times of conflicts between all races, epic wars, easterlings invasions, etc. It's a much better backdrop than the Ring quest and it's backdrop.
Re:of course they will
by
inkedmn
·
· Score: 5, Funny
it's well established now that their target market is willing to pay both.
or their target market's parents...
-- well, it's nothing one behind the ear wouldn't cure
Re:Here's hoping
by
DunbarTheInept
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
One thing a game has to have before you can even consider PD is real consequential results from your actions. In the real world, if you just kill someone out in the street with witnesses and take his stuff, you're not going to get away with it, and your life as a free man will be pretty much over. Consequences like that have to exist in the MMORPG or PD isn't going to be fair. (Hey, let's go beat up on some newbies for a while...)
--
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Re:Here's hoping
by
Karhgath
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Exactly. In fact, a good PD system will nearly eliminate PKillers and that sort of people, and strengthen the community and interaction between players, much more than a conventional game could.
Like I said before, the idea is to solve the problems of PD(death by lags and glitches for example) and not just whine about them, but actually try to solve them. It's easy to say PD won't work because of X or Y, but it's harder and more rewarding, I think, to try to actually solve those problems. These new ideas might revitalize the MMORPG market, EVEN if the game fails, the ideas and new features because of PD might be really useful even for other games.
Check a discussion I'm having on BluesNews about PD, posts #11 and up.
Slashdot Mirror
Now they have both a Star Wars and a Middle Earth MMORPG. I hope I have some personal and sick days left in a couple of months, I'm gonna need them. All they need now is a "You get to bone Britney Spears in real life" *game* and I would instantly reach a state of Heavenly Nirvana and transcend to the plane of eternal bliss. Well, a "You get to bone Jolene Blalock in real life" game would work too.
Ganndallf_00312 says out of character 'L22 Wizzard LFG in Rivendale'.
Aarragone says out of character 'Ranger and Rogue group needs Wiz for Ring Quest.'
Hobbitbone_05 says out of character 'Not another 'Fellowship' group. L4m3rs!'
(Actually, I wrote a while back for an EQ website.
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
I do believe that the market is now ready for a Permanent-Death MMORPG. I mean, the market is so full of similar games that a trully different and risky feature such as this might be what's needed to get a good share of the market.
Sure, making a PD game requires planning it from the start, making every features in a way that PD is possible for everyone to ENJOY. There are lot of problems to solve, and those are solvable on paper, and probably in practice. I just wish one publisher had the balls to really do it.
I wouldn't bet that Turbine will keep the PD, I'm sure they won't. This sucks. I just wish there were still risky companies around like Looking Glass were. Ion Storm isn't bad with Deus Ex and now the sequel, although they used Looking Glass' legacy to build Deus Ex on... While you can be successful and make great games without being overly original and risky(Blizzard), we still need risky ventures to revolutionize and advance toward new and greener pastures.
Oh well, don't mind me, the old skeptic gamer, but I'm sure the new middle earth will just be a 'standard' MMORPG with some new and unrisky features and the same old gameplay, with some tweak here and there, and more importantly, the Tolkien world! Wow, quite a change of setting...
Please, someone, bring Permanent Death and more risky idea to the world of MMORPG and then, maybe, maybe I'll actually play one.
When you initially log in and get ganked by some loser playing a hobbit..
"d00d! I 0wn0rz3d y00!!!!! LMAO!!!!"
*cringe*
I'm not looking forward to hearing those words from a hobbit...
I think I need to go reread LoTRs just to get that picture out of my head.
G. Washington on Government "it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
You are one of the many who do not think really about a PD system as a new beast completely. A PD game cannot just be EverQuest with PD added just like that. Everything, the whole game - economics, character advancement, features, etc. - everything must be built from the ground up to be Perma-Death. It's not as simple as adding PD or creating a PD server, as this will just fail and won't be useful at all. There is a real challenge of doing a PD game, and much reward I think.
However, for that, people must lose they preconceived ideas about permanent-death. I think I'll start the PDAA (PD Awareness Association). =)
That's why I think the perfect MMORPG in Middle Earth would be during the second age, or at least long before the LoTR. Times of conflicts between all races, epic wars, easterlings invasions, etc. It's a much better backdrop than the Ring quest and it's backdrop.
it's well established now that their target market is willing to pay both.
or their target market's parents...
well, it's nothing one behind the ear wouldn't cure
One thing a game has to have before you can even consider PD is real consequential results from your actions. In the real world, if you just kill someone out in the street with witnesses and take his stuff, you're not going to get away with it, and your life as a free man will be pretty much over. Consequences like that have to exist in the MMORPG or PD isn't going to be fair. (Hey, let's go beat up on some newbies for a while...)
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Exactly. In fact, a good PD system will nearly eliminate PKillers and that sort of people, and strengthen the community and interaction between players, much more than a conventional game could.
Like I said before, the idea is to solve the problems of PD(death by lags and glitches for example) and not just whine about them, but actually try to solve them. It's easy to say PD won't work because of X or Y, but it's harder and more rewarding, I think, to try to actually solve those problems. These new ideas might revitalize the MMORPG market, EVEN if the game fails, the ideas and new features because of PD might be really useful even for other games.
Check a discussion I'm having on BluesNews about PD, posts #11 and up.
MEO Discussion on BluesNews