Archiving the History of Virtual Worlds

eldavojohn writes "Some members of the University of Texas are trying to create a repository to store the histories of online virtual worlds. They hope that game makers will take advantage of this repository as they define standards of how to save interactions not only between players and the virtual worlds but also other players. How many times have I destroyed you in a duel? Let's check the records!"

Comments

Re:Reminds me of the best Star Trek episode ever

[Anonymous Coward]

Worf then kills, slaughters and eats

I think you mean "kills, butchers and eats" - slaughter implies a particular meaning of killing. Rather than butcher, you can also use "dress" which doesn't have the "kill" connotation associated with it.

I used to be a butcher assistant. Sorry.

Eve Soverignty Maps

[zerocool^]

In EvE, if you add this:
http://www.eve-iss.com/external/maps/territoryanimated.gif (1.7MB animated gif)
with this:
http://eve-files.com/media/corp/CRII/ (map jpegs have dates)

You can get a relatively accurate look at what's happened in player controlled territory since 2003 in New Eden.

For the un-initiated, eve has it's NPC-controlled sandbox, it's all the space in the middle of these maps. In this space, you can do your mining, crafting, running NPC missions / quests, invention, market trading, etc etc. Space in EvE is given a security rating 0.0 ~ 1.0, with 1.0 being tightly controlled by NPCs and 0.0 being lawless. For the adventurous, 0.0 space has different rules. There's no penalty for shooting someone else's ship, there are stations that can be captured, sovereignty to be gained, bountiful assets to take advantage of, and all the PVP you can shake a stick at - from the small 5 man roaming gangs to the laggy 300v300 fleet battles (these are usually over territorial control).

Anyway, in a nutshell, there's the history of eve. At odds with each other for years in EvE are the Band of Brothers alliance (mostly UK, Euro, and US), and the Red Alliance (Russian speaking players, mostly).

~Wx

Re:Eve Soverignty Maps

[zerocool^]

i've heard that in Eve one spends most of their time gathering and flying through empty space with bugger all to do.

In a way, that's true; in a way it's not. Usually you end up calling a certain part of eve "home". I.e. a few systems, or part of a region. It does take a good bit of time in eve to move assets, but this is one of the realism aspects of the game. Unlike other games where you can check something into a "Vault" or "bank", and pull it out halfway across the world, in eve, assets are *some place*, and to get them from A to B, they have to be moved. So, then it becomes "Do I want to spend more money and buy X item here, or do I want to fly 10 solar systems over and buy it for X-30%?". Lots of people make money buying things low, moving them to the fringes, and selling them high.

When you've built your bad ass ship that took you weeks, someone can destroy it in a matter of minutes. Is that the case?

Yes. Death in eve has meaning. Don't fly it unless you can afford to lose it. There's a trade off between expensive items and their added benefit, and the cost of replacing them if they are lost.

Case in point: Estamel's Modified Invulnerability Field - most expensive and rarest module in the game. Adds a 50% resistance bonus to all damage types for shields. The last one that sold I think sold for 11 billion isk. You can almost buy a Mothership for that. So the question is how much will this increase your survivability versus the 6 million isk Tech 2 invulnerability field, or even the 300,000 isk tech 1 invulnerability field (30% and 25% resistance, respectively). Cost vs. Benefit.

i've mostly heard about it from people who disliked it. Can't recall talking to anyone who did like it.

I can't speak for everyone, but I like it. I've been playing for 2.5 years now, and have 2 characters. It's not for everyone, but it's really got some heart-pounding PVP if you go look for it. There's anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 people logged in (to the same world, eve is not sharded) at any given time.

~Wx

Re:Eve Soverignty Maps

[LordMyren]

If you are part of a large alliance, theres usually jump bridge routes to connect up all of your empire's assets. Inside of your network, transit really isnt an issue, aside from time roaming through enemy space. And theres always plenty to do then.

I'd pin anyone not in an alliance as someone who spends "most of their time gathering and flying through empty space with bugger all to do". Theres usually some sort of long term goal that has you floating through space, but the goal boils down to some static repetitive variant of "make money".

A Brief History of Grief Play

[Bieeanda]

People talk about the death of Lord British, and the Corrupted Blood plague, and the antics of Fansy the Famous Bard not because they're turning points in MMO history, but because they're fucking funny. Who really gives a shit about official lore like Morpheus getting cacked, when there are records of Bael'zharon flirting with female PCs and eating emoted twinkies during his plodding reign of destruction? Or how about the early days of WWII On-Line, when Lum the Mad Taxiied to victory-- or even better, the tanks whose code was lifted from planes, flight mechanics and all, bringing forth the unholy reign (rain?) of flying flakpanzers?

Seriously. Nobody really gives a shit about the official stuff. It's the impromptu weirdness (including Rainz' murder of Lord British) that they remember and celebrate.