I remember being on a road trip with my parents, when I was around 8, and we visited friends. They had a 'magical video game.' It was a slightly more advanced version of the Pong you describe: It had *4* variations on the basic Pong game. Shortly thereafter, I got to play one of the original, stand-alone versions of Space War. My first actual computer gaming experience was with the Eamon games on an Apple IIe. And, finally, my first RPG gaming experience was when I was given a copy of the third version of the original D&D. (The one with the wizard and fighter taking on a red dragon, and a single, blue rule book.)
I may not be the PDP type of Elder Geek, but I've got some good pedigree.;>
I understand that the v2.3 patch is going to change the leveling from 20-60, speeding it up somehow. While I understand the need for this from the point of view of people who've already made it past 60, it's rather sad that it will mean that all of the raid content below 60 will be even more abandoned than it is now. It would be nice if they came up with some way to make it worthwhile to still do BWL/MC/ZG/AQ/Naxx/etc.
...and Tron had it's 25th anniversary just a few weeks before....Coincidence? *insert ominous music*
Re:Really? RPGs and the lack of real changes.
on
Rethinking the MMOG
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· Score: 1
I disagree. If it's about being a stats geek, then it's not really a ROLE-playing game. This is especially true if you're talking about a pen-and-paper RPG. True role-playing is a limited form of acting, and few gamers I've ever run into do it well. (I've played ren-and-paper RPGs since 1980.) If you move this to computer RPGs, you pretty much have to leave true role-playing out of it. Very few people will be good at it, much less even try to do it when there is no point, save for interacting with another player on a purely social level. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see people do it, but why should they? If there were enough live GMs to offer rewards for role-playing, or some way for role-playing to effect the story or adventuring, it would be great. It would also take something like a few hundred thousand GMs for just WoW.
Travel time, XP/rep/stat grinds, and the like are purely mechanics issues. As such, fixing them is not going to move the system away from stats geeks. It will just change how the stats are managed.
Limiting the number of heroes can work, but it takes some special management. Pretty much the sort of thing that would be required to manage true role-playing. Back in the day, I was on a Vampire: tM-base MUD, where all new characters were normal humans. You had to play the game as such until such time as one of the supernatural took notice of you and decided that you would be useful to be involved. Again, this only worked because there was real role-playing and a high enough GM to Player ratio to support it.
Scorched Earth has to be listed under such a topic. Something that will get ten people huddled around one keyboard for hours at a stretch has to have something on the ball.
...WoW's monthly fee a 'gym membership.' A friend's roommate built himself that same sort of thing, only around an eliptical machine about a year ago. Been wanting one myself, but elipticals are expensive for a decent one. I decided to go with the bicycle idea, but instead of buying that one, I'm building my own desk. I'm going with a more level keyboard tray and extra mousing/Nostromo area.
I opened up the T6000 that's on display today. It's not too bad actually. The motherboard is made my MSI and it's based on a VIA chipset. The included video card is an ATI Radeon 9600. (Okay, not the drool card that the 9800XT is, but still decent.) The case is nicely open, with well routed cabling, and the hard drives are mounted sideways, so the ends face the side of the computer for easy access to the cables/jumpers. Yeah, it's still an eMachine, but they're a lot better than the total crap they used to be.
I disagree. If you're familliar with the game, there is even more to complain about in the movie.
- Since when are mid-level thieves capable of out-fighting high-level fighters?
- Other than Oriental Adventures, where do single-class mages learn to be good fighters?
- There were only two occasions where a mage used a material spell component, and casting times for all spells were extremely short.
- Why was the dwarf's axe such a piece of crap compared to everyone else's blades? Dwarves produce more master smiths than everyon else. Even a fighter like Elwood would know to buy quality.
There's more that could be said, but it is true that a lot of it gets sacrificed for plot intrest and continuity. I could accept that if the movie was a good one.
Yes, someone can do a decent ornithopter without millions of dollars. This week's episode of Andromeda had little flying drones that were rather well done. They looked a lot like Terminator Hunter/Killer's with dragonfly wings. The Dune team certianly could have done the Ornithopters right.
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But I think I'm going to hold off purchasing one until someone comes up with Niven's Flashlight-laser.
You're not the only one. :>
;>
I remember being on a road trip with my parents, when I was around 8, and we visited friends. They had a 'magical video game.' It was a slightly more advanced version of the Pong you describe: It had *4* variations on the basic Pong game. Shortly thereafter, I got to play one of the original, stand-alone versions of Space War. My first actual computer gaming experience was with the Eamon games on an Apple IIe. And, finally, my first RPG gaming experience was when I was given a copy of the third version of the original D&D. (The one with the wizard and fighter taking on a red dragon, and a single, blue rule book.)
I may not be the PDP type of Elder Geek, but I've got some good pedigree.
...and whole soundtracks, not single pieces to boot: Quake 2 and MechWarrior 2. Both had excellent music for the whole game.
Amazing that the Portal ending song hasn't been mentioned yet.
I understand that the v2.3 patch is going to change the leveling from 20-60, speeding it up somehow. While I understand the need for this from the point of view of people who've already made it past 60, it's rather sad that it will mean that all of the raid content below 60 will be even more abandoned than it is now. It would be nice if they came up with some way to make it worthwhile to still do BWL/MC/ZG/AQ/Naxx/etc.
You can lead a boy to college, but you can't make him think.
...and Tron had it's 25th anniversary just a few weeks before....Coincidence?
*insert ominous music*
I disagree. If it's about being a stats geek, then it's not really a ROLE-playing game. This is especially true if you're talking about a pen-and-paper RPG. True role-playing is a limited form of acting, and few gamers I've ever run into do it well. (I've played ren-and-paper RPGs since 1980.) If you move this to computer RPGs, you pretty much have to leave true role-playing out of it. Very few people will be good at it, much less even try to do it when there is no point, save for interacting with another player on a purely social level. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see people do it, but why should they? If there were enough live GMs to offer rewards for role-playing, or some way for role-playing to effect the story or adventuring, it would be great. It would also take something like a few hundred thousand GMs for just WoW.
Travel time, XP/rep/stat grinds, and the like are purely mechanics issues. As such, fixing them is not going to move the system away from stats geeks. It will just change how the stats are managed.
Limiting the number of heroes can work, but it takes some special management. Pretty much the sort of thing that would be required to manage true role-playing. Back in the day, I was on a Vampire: tM-base MUD, where all new characters were normal humans. You had to play the game as such until such time as one of the supernatural took notice of you and decided that you would be useful to be involved. Again, this only worked because there was real role-playing and a high enough GM to Player ratio to support it.
Scorched Earth has to be listed under such a topic. Something that will get ten people huddled around one keyboard for hours at a stretch has to have something on the ball.
"Telepathy spread by virus. Aliens invade."
"My mother, the car. I'm Rusty."
"Time Traveler returns to backwards life."
"Death cured. Zombies despair. Eat grains."
...WoW's monthly fee a 'gym membership.'
A friend's roommate built himself that same sort of thing, only around an eliptical machine about a year ago. Been wanting one myself, but elipticals are expensive for a decent one. I decided to go with the bicycle idea, but instead of buying that one, I'm building my own desk. I'm going with a more level keyboard tray and extra mousing/Nostromo area.
I opened up the T6000 that's on display today. It's not too bad actually. The motherboard is made my MSI and it's based on a VIA chipset. The included video card is an ATI Radeon 9600. (Okay, not the drool card that the 9800XT is, but still decent.) The case is nicely open, with well routed cabling, and the hard drives are mounted sideways, so the ends face the side of the computer for easy access to the cables/jumpers.
Yeah, it's still an eMachine, but they're a lot better than the total crap they used to be.
I disagree. If you're familliar with the game, there is even more to complain about in the movie. - Since when are mid-level thieves capable of out-fighting high-level fighters? - Other than Oriental Adventures, where do single-class mages learn to be good fighters? - There were only two occasions where a mage used a material spell component, and casting times for all spells were extremely short. - Why was the dwarf's axe such a piece of crap compared to everyone else's blades? Dwarves produce more master smiths than everyon else. Even a fighter like Elwood would know to buy quality. There's more that could be said, but it is true that a lot of it gets sacrificed for plot intrest and continuity. I could accept that if the movie was a good one.
Yes, someone can do a decent ornithopter without millions of dollars. This week's episode of Andromeda had little flying drones that were rather well done. They looked a lot like Terminator Hunter/Killer's with dragonfly wings. The Dune team certianly could have done the Ornithopters right.