While some of the small details are questionable in "The big scam" I don't think it's fake. I've played Eve since a month after release. Those kinds of scams DO happen.
Older players may remember the Morbor investment scheme which ripped off over 300 players. Now THAT was entertainment!
Several months ago, Eve online posted an article describing the server cluster used to run the game. I can't find it at work, but I remember the hardware used was just staggering. At the time I think the cluster consisted of about 60 machines, and they've added 30 more since then.
This was to run ONE shard that usually holds between 10-12k concurrent users.
From what I've heard, the most overpopulated WoW servers push the 8-10k concurrent user mark EACH. (Usually when they crash) Let alone the other 80 shards they have running.
Then the whiners come out yelling "Fix the servers!" as if it were such a simple thing. I'd love it if Blizzard posted an article outlining the hardware they've got behind the game. It would be quite educational.
Why are games so often held up against literature? Some games have narrative elements, but it is hardly a requirement of the form.
You don't see the works of Michelangelo tackling social issues. What about the music of Bach? Still art.
Remember, we're talking about games here. Not movies, not novels, not operas, not symphonies. These are games. A game can have deep narrative and "tackle social issues" all you want. But if the gameplay is crap, then it is not a good game.
Is Tetris any less "art" than Half-Life? Is the story that makes Half-Life a good game? Or is it the gameplay?
I agree that Eve is much more complex than any other MMO. However that is both good and bad.
Running a production corp of about 50-75 active members from both the US and Europe for the better part of a year, as well with dealing with alliance politics/BS ended up being more work than I did at WORK getting paid. Eve forced me to learn a LOT of stuff in Excel I never thought I'd know. Problem was it became all management. I'd never actually play the game. I'd log in, do corp maintenance and paperwork for an hour or two, and log out. It stopped being a game and started becoming a job and I simply burned out on it. The simplicity of WoW is a friggin relief after Eve. I get ehough of real life in real life. I don't want it in my games too.
However, my 3 accounts are still active and training, in case the fire sparks back up.:)
When Lineage II was released in the US, you had to buy a boxed copy. Even if that is no longer the case, it still is a bad comparison. Many MMO's go to online sales after the initial release. Usually because box sales start dropping off.
1) IIRC, that obsolete middle man sets retail prices, not Blizzard. Bitch at them.
2) I couldn't read the article at the time, firewall at work prevented.
If they're *that* concerned it will cut into sales they could charge a nominal $5 "new key" fee or for the downloaders.
I wouldn't be suprised if the distributor (Vivendi) has made sure contractually that Blizzard can't do this. Look at the legal fiasco when Valve offered direct sales of HL2. Direct distribution cuts into the distributors profits. They don't like it when you do that.
Not only that, but The manufacturing costs are signifigantly lower than $35 ($50 minus the first month).
You do realize that the profits from box sales don't all go to Blizzard, right? A large chunk of that income goes to the publisher.
Than that rate is too high, and I won't be playing any of those games.
There is no such thing as too expensive. The consumer has the power, exercising their right not to purchase the product. (as you have) If enough people feel the same way, then the price will come down to make sales. The game is selling just fine, so it would seem the pricing is on target.
Back to the original poster: The account transfer policy seems to be the same as other MMO's. You can only transfer ownership of the account if all physical materials (Including CD key) are transferred with it. You cannot create a new account with it, but the person you're getting the copy from should have given you the login and password.
There are 88 realms in the US. That's a hell of a lot of hardware. I don't know how many they have in Europe or Asia, but it will probably be comparable.
Lineage 2, man you sure know how to pick an MMO to try.
That game was such a naked grind it was sick. Not a good example of the genre, but they're all grinds to some extent. Some just hide it better. (WoW)
The problem with characters being able to change the game world, is that everyone wants to be able to do that, but if you let everyone do it, it's chaos. Everyone can't be the hero, but unless everyone is, they aren't happy.
Star Wars Galaxies is a good example of this. Everyone wants to be Jedi/Sith. The game is set in a time period where jedi/sith are as rare as can be. They should have set SWG in the same timeframe as KOTOR. Then everyone could be a force user, and it would make sense.
I hate people who assume someone who disagrees with them is an "apologist fanboy asshat".
I play the game regularly, and I have little to no problem with it. I swear no allegiance to Blizzard, (I hardly played their games before WoW) so I don't have any reason to defend them.
The game works for me. If you have problems, that sucks for you. It doesn't change the fact that I enjoy the game.
(For the record, I also hate the vocal minority who are stupid enough to assume they speak for everyone else)
I run Windows XP. It runs the programs I want to run. I maintain my system well, so I don't have problems.
I tried out a Linux distro because I was curious. (Mephis) It supposedly booted into a GUI off the CD for installation. It didn't. Got back into XP and after 20 minutes of searching, found the console command to get into a GUI without it failing. I was finally able to install Mepis. Figured out how to get it online, got some programs installed, so I could browse the web with it. Whee. Only problem, was that I couldn't change screen res. 640x480 wasn't going to cut it, and if I changed it, I dropped back to the CLI. Turns out the included ATI drivers didn't work. Looked into getting updated drivers (on the XP box) and after about 45 minutes of searching, realized I would have to recompile the ATI drivers for my distro.
No clue how to do that, no decent documentation that I could readily find to explain it. Said "Screw this" and went back to the XP box.
Anyone who says Linux is ready for the masses is an idiot. I'm a fairly technical guy and if it is confusing to me, Joe Consumer's head will explode trying to use it. By no means am I a Microsoft fanboy. Windows sucks for the most part. But it gets the job done with less hassle to setup and maintain.
Make an OS that is as easy to set up as my toaster, and I'll be impressed.
Here's my theory on why game developers will NEVER support this.
Liability.
If they endorse sales of items and currency, they agree that said items and currency have real world value. Since they agree to this value, then they could be held liable for losses incurred because of server issues, balancing, database rollbacks, etc.
Imagine Johnny's $100 Mace o' Doom gets nerfed in a patch and is only worth $10 because of it. He could make a claim that he should be compensated for his loss.
Imagine a database roll-back on 500,000 characters.....
TO say that memorization is not needed is misleading. On songs with any kind of difficulty, if you don't know what's coming up you turn into a stumbling idiot. (I've been that idiot) You simply can't react fast enough.
I do have respect for people who are good at that game after having tried it. It's hard shit. Probably the best cardio a gamer will get too.
Go pick up "Halo: First Strike" by Eric Nylund. Considering it's a book based off an Xbox game, it's not half bad. It covers the start of the Covenant/Human war, as well as the Spartan program that produced Master Chief. Turns out there were quite a few of those wacky Spartans, making it easier to turn into a movie. More characters = more character interaction = more entertaining. (In theory. There are obviously exceptions)
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While some of the small details are questionable in "The big scam" I don't think it's fake. I've played Eve since a month after release. Those kinds of scams DO happen.
Older players may remember the Morbor investment scheme which ripped off over 300 players. Now THAT was entertainment!
Several months ago, Eve online posted an article describing the server cluster used to run the game. I can't find it at work, but I remember the hardware used was just staggering. At the time I think the cluster consisted of about 60 machines, and they've added 30 more since then.
This was to run ONE shard that usually holds between 10-12k concurrent users.
From what I've heard, the most overpopulated WoW servers push the 8-10k concurrent user mark EACH. (Usually when they crash) Let alone the other 80 shards they have running.
Then the whiners come out yelling "Fix the servers!" as if it were such a simple thing. I'd love it if Blizzard posted an article outlining the hardware they've got behind the game. It would be quite educational.
However, I completely agree with the parent.
Why are games so often held up against literature? Some games have narrative elements, but it is hardly a requirement of the form.
You don't see the works of Michelangelo tackling social issues. What about the music of Bach? Still art.
Remember, we're talking about games here. Not movies, not novels, not operas, not symphonies. These are games. A game can have deep narrative and "tackle social issues" all you want. But if the gameplay is crap, then it is not a good game.
Is Tetris any less "art" than Half-Life? Is the story that makes Half-Life a good game? Or is it the gameplay?
I agree that Eve is much more complex than any other MMO. However that is both good and bad.
:)
Running a production corp of about 50-75 active members from both the US and Europe for the better part of a year, as well with dealing with alliance politics/BS ended up being more work than I did at WORK getting paid. Eve forced me to learn a LOT of stuff in Excel I never thought I'd know. Problem was it became all management. I'd never actually play the game. I'd log in, do corp maintenance and paperwork for an hour or two, and log out. It stopped being a game and started becoming a job and I simply burned out on it. The simplicity of WoW is a friggin relief after Eve. I get ehough of real life in real life. I don't want it in my games too.
However, my 3 accounts are still active and training, in case the fire sparks back up.
I find tetris enjoyable. I rally can't explain why putting bricks together is entertaining, but it is.
Is my OPINION invalid because I can't qualify it to you?
No, you'll eat a clay flowerpot WITH YOUR MIND.
Will there be a separate group for "Dark Tower" enthusiasts?
I thought he'd NEVER finish that story...
Quest Xp > grind XP.
When Lineage II was released in the US, you had to buy a boxed copy. Even if that is no longer the case, it still is a bad comparison. Many MMO's go to online sales after the initial release. Usually because box sales start dropping off.
1) IIRC, that obsolete middle man sets retail prices, not Blizzard. Bitch at them. 2) I couldn't read the article at the time, firewall at work prevented.
Back to the original poster: The account transfer policy seems to be the same as other MMO's. You can only transfer ownership of the account if all physical materials (Including CD key) are transferred with it. You cannot create a new account with it, but the person you're getting the copy from should have given you the login and password.
There are 88 realms in the US. That's a hell of a lot of hardware. I don't know how many they have in Europe or Asia, but it will probably be comparable.
Too bad hunter-specific quests stop at lvl 10. :(
(lvl 33 Hunter)
Some of the classes are alot more fleshed out.
Lineage 2, man you sure know how to pick an MMO to try.
That game was such a naked grind it was sick. Not a good example of the genre, but they're all grinds to some extent. Some just hide it better. (WoW)
The problem with characters being able to change the game world, is that everyone wants to be able to do that, but if you let everyone do it, it's chaos. Everyone can't be the hero, but unless everyone is, they aren't happy.
Star Wars Galaxies is a good example of this. Everyone wants to be Jedi/Sith. The game is set in a time period where jedi/sith are as rare as can be. They should have set SWG in the same timeframe as KOTOR. Then everyone could be a force user, and it would make sense.
Nono, you're thinking of the Dolphins.
I play the game regularly, and I have little to no problem with it. I swear no allegiance to Blizzard, (I hardly played their games before WoW) so I don't have any reason to defend them.
The game works for me. If you have problems, that sucks for you. It doesn't change the fact that I enjoy the game.
(For the record, I also hate the vocal minority who are stupid enough to assume they speak for everyone else)
I run Windows XP. It runs the programs I want to run. I maintain my system well, so I don't have problems.
I tried out a Linux distro because I was curious. (Mephis) It supposedly booted into a GUI off the CD for installation. It didn't. Got back into XP and after 20 minutes of searching, found the console command to get into a GUI without it failing. I was finally able to install Mepis. Figured out how to get it online, got some programs installed, so I could browse the web with it. Whee. Only problem, was that I couldn't change screen res. 640x480 wasn't going to cut it, and if I changed it, I dropped back to the CLI. Turns out the included ATI drivers didn't work. Looked into getting updated drivers (on the XP box) and after about 45 minutes of searching, realized I would have to recompile the ATI drivers for my distro.
No clue how to do that, no decent documentation that I could readily find to explain it. Said "Screw this" and went back to the XP box.
Anyone who says Linux is ready for the masses is an idiot. I'm a fairly technical guy and if it is confusing to me, Joe Consumer's head will explode trying to use it. By no means am I a Microsoft fanboy. Windows sucks for the most part. But it gets the job done with less hassle to setup and maintain.
Make an OS that is as easy to set up as my toaster, and I'll be impressed.
Here's my theory on why game developers will NEVER support this.
Liability.
If they endorse sales of items and currency, they agree that said items and currency have real world value. Since they agree to this value, then they could be held liable for losses incurred because of server issues, balancing, database rollbacks, etc.
Imagine Johnny's $100 Mace o' Doom gets nerfed in a patch and is only worth $10 because of it. He could make a claim that he should be compensated for his loss.
Imagine a database roll-back on 500,000 characters.....
I know it's a grey area, but wouldn't that be entrapment? (Or at least unethical?)
DDR = Simon + Techno + Crack.
TO say that memorization is not needed is misleading. On songs with any kind of difficulty, if you don't know what's coming up you turn into a stumbling idiot. (I've been that idiot) You simply can't react fast enough.
I do have respect for people who are good at that game after having tried it. It's hard shit. Probably the best cardio a gamer will get too.
The Fall of Reach is part of First Strike. (The end actually)
Go pick up "Halo: First Strike" by Eric Nylund. Considering it's a book based off an Xbox game, it's not half bad. It covers the start of the Covenant/Human war, as well as the Spartan program that produced Master Chief. Turns out there were quite a few of those wacky Spartans, making it easier to turn into a movie. More characters = more character interaction = more entertaining. (In theory. There are obviously exceptions)