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A Tale In The Desert's Social Evolution Examined
Thanks to Gamer's Pulse for their revised review of A Tale In The Desert, discussing their re-visiting of the unique Windows/Linux MMORPG. The review sums up the combat-free MMO title's goals as: "working together, being social, and trading with other people, all in the name of a unified Egypt", and the reviewer talks about the "new laws and structures and new technologies" being implemented, and the new problem of virtual deforestation: "Recently, the skill of clear cutting was offered in a new university, and some people didn't heed the warnings [that] once a tree was clear cut, you couldn't get wood from it for a whole week." The resulting wood shortages mean that "newcomers to the game won't be able to pass their tests to become citizens", but in-game, tree-friendly legislation may be pending.
Different strokes for different folks. Some people play these games solely to role play. And I could understand why as a combat person you find SWG boring, the combat system is pretty poorly designed. The crafting system, however, is great :)
--Kobayashi--
Cooperative Gaming. neato, what a concept. Howabout we combine this with Flash Mobbing and get back to reality: cooperative living!
WhoTF wants to get home from work to haggle about the rules of an imaginary country? If you spent that time participating in/giving educational compaigns for the real world (no matter what the cause), perhaps the typical apathy of the public would be gone.
Instead, we have yet another excuse to sit on our asses. "MMORPG's Egypt accepts 1 millionth citizen!" reads the headline, while voter participation is near 20%. Sheesh! I'm starting a potato chip company.
A griefer is a player whose goal is to ruin the experience for other people. IT's analagous to Bartle's Player Killer, but in a game with no killing (Or player killing) the behaviours are different, and so is the name.
I don't like people who role play. I mean, what the hell? Get a clean shirt and a job and stop pretending you're a werewolf - you're not. Living in denial and never having sex in no way to go through life.
Your kind of rant is a thinly disguised attempt to sound righteous, but does nothing to promote a healthy social well being for people who fall under the category you are describing. In fact, it only serves to draw an even darker picture of reality for them as their experience with your kind of ignorance just further proves the worthlessness of trying to "fit in" with the rest of the world.
Don't tell people how to live their lives. If really you want to really do some good, go do community service, write open source software, or volunteer at your local public school. Don't sit around on geek message board and tell the geeks that they suck becuase they are behaving like geeks.
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
It's not a lot of fun. Conceptually, I was enthralled by the notion of the players creating and backing their own currency. Passing their own laws. Working together to accomplish a goal. Truly, these are things that hint at what wonders MMOGs could truly be!!
So I payed my 13 bucks. I played for two weeks, and all I did was make bricks, run around, click on a bunch of trees, and 'farm' flax plants by repeatedly clicking on the ground. A Tale in the Desert SOUNDS really freaking neat, but I don't get off on doing the job of a peon or peasant in Warcraft.
Seriously, these are things though that I would love to see in a game that's actually fun to play.
no thanks
I now find myself in a vast social web of politics and intrigue. We have no combat system, so our conflicts can't be resolved with raw force. This leads to odd bits of compromise, strange diplomacy sessions, and the rise of true leaders. I have seen raw emotional debates that have struck me more deeply than any 'video game' ever has. I find myself part of a larger story that is still evolving, both with and without me.
And so I work and plot for the day when this story ends and we discover if the strange band of players who have spent so much time together are able to overcome their differences and find a goal we can stand behind, or if chaos will claim our efforts and end our story in defeat.
I decided to look into Egypt since it was a free download and they had a native Linux client. I was bored with the same old cookie cutter games being churned out and wanted something new. What I found is a game in which I feel my efforts matter, and enough brain candy that I'll still be snacking long after our story ends.
A steaming cup of soykaf would be real wiz right now.
If you only build bricks and farm flax, that would indeed be boring. Maybe you were in a far corner of Egypt with no one else around to help you... that would indeed be boring. But if so, you really missed the game entirely.
Did you not see the hundreds of other kinds of buildings that you can make and dozens of technologies you can use? Did you miss the challenges of the tests of the seven disciplines? The early tests are easy, and give you something of the flavor of the later, harder tests, which are often so difficult that you must rally the cooperation of many other players to help you accomplish your goals. Did you miss the collective challenge that, by the end of one year, for each of the seven disciplines, at least one person must complete all of the seven tests?
The game is not without its flaws. But in some cases the flaws are deliberate, and we the players are challenged to collectively figure out how to fix the problems that come up.
Yes, it is an artificial world, set up to work much like real life in a couple ways. And yes, we could be putting similar energy into the real world, but here is why I do it. 1. I already do put similar energy into the real world, and it is nice to take a break from that. 2. There are many things very unlike the real world that are fun to play with. 3. We get to change how the game itself works, by passing laws and voting on new features. 4. I don't care for the combat games - I don't need that particular thrill.
There is no other online game like it (cooperative, evolving, overarching goals, in a massive online multiplayer environment), not that I know of. Please post if you know of others - I'd like to play more games like this.
Daniel LaLiberte https://www.facebook.com/daniel.laliberte
It is intended to be finite, lasting a year, starting over in a (presumably) modified form afterwards. There are specific goals (Tests) in the game, in different Disciplines- the players will need to have at least one player for each Discipline who's passed all the tests for that Discipline; and do some other things which are as yet not so clear, and as a group can win the game. Or lose it.
So it's set up as a cooperative game in theory... although individuals will often act in their own self-interest much of the time, of course. Some of the tests are of a familiar accumulate lots of stuff and build a big object type; others require large-scale player cooperation, others are purely competitive; there are art design tests, competitive strategy minigames, design of minigames/puzzles in game... lots of variety.
Another point of difference between this and other MMORPGs: communications and guilds. There is no talk to everyone command (like an Everquest /shout) normally available. A player may belong to any number of guilds (which establish a chat channel between members)- and these guilds run the gamut from full community property to being only a chat channel. There are metaguilds formed to discuss regional issues, to discuss experimentation in some area of the game such as brewing or viticulture, to focus on passing a particular Test or set of Tests, to accomplish some particular large-scale undertaking (e.g. the 'Nileside Cafe', building larger pyramids.) Reputation matters even more than in most other games. There are also now a few microphones, which allow one-way communication to everyone who's joined a corresponding channel to hear the messages.
As to PeteyG's experience: if someone shows up and is willing to make bricks and grow flax or do other other tedious tasks all day, there will be some people happy to tell the newbie to do that... but there's nothing stopping you from leaving and finding something more interesting to do. There are no 'levels', within a few days characters can make most things as rapidly as established characters, and it's usually easy to trade for more difficult items.
It's a free download, and the first 24 hours of in-game play are free as a trial account. It's not for everyone, but if the above sounds interesting give it a try. Finally, in addition to windows it's available in Linux... and this is Slashdot.
I have played this game since about May. In real life I am an engineer. I play various computer games at a moderate level. I have to say I am hooked on ATITD more than any game since I was in high school probably. First off, well this game is heavily advertised as being cooperative and not competitive, that is clearly a half truth. The resources needed to build things range from being very common to very rare. There is MUCH competion to get the rare resources, and have the biggest and best camp. Secondly, there is 49 "tests" in the game. These tests range from having the tallest obelisk in a region to getting the most votes on your artwork. Almost every test is very competitive, where many attempt a given test, but few can pass. Pros: Puzzle solving. Almost every new technology Egypt discovers comes without directions. We have to try different things, post ideas to the forums, and do experiments to figure it out. My engineering mind absolutely loves this (yes call me a loser but even after a hard day of work, I can't wait to get online and work on pretend problems:) ). Game system in general. Most games involve very little risk. The companies make sure that the games don't negatively impact anyone playing them. This game does not do that. The developers have allowed the player base to screw up the game by passing or not passing certain laws. The clear cutting of trees is a good example. How many games allow the players to have enough control to screw up to the point where new players might not pay money? It happened in this one. I find that very intersting, that the player base is allowed a very high level of power to change the code of the game. Cons: There is a lot of time spent "working", gathering resources. Especially for new players, as you progress you get to the more interesting stuff. Steep learning curve. This is not a mindless game, where a person can come in and start playing and understand what is going on. You almost have to research the forums and fan sites, and find an experienced player of guild in game to really know what is going on. I think a lot of new players quit, cause they come on and have a hard time at all knowing what to do. In conclusion, I think this is game has some of the most deep content out there right now. It is very unique, very deep, very powerful. That said it not for everyone. Clearly not everyone wants to play this type of game, and would not like the amount of thought, time, and work that is needed to really get the most out of it. It is a niche game, where some people like myself are just blown away by it.