VirginWorlds MMORPG News Host: Brent VirginWorlds is a weekly news podcast covering Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, Eve Online, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online and many many more. The VirginWorlds MMORPG Podcast is the flagship podcast of the VirginWorlds MMO Podcast Collective found at http://www.virginworlds.com
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VirginWorlds Podcast #102Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:29:00 GMT [download/play]
'Myst Online?' by Nosferum Submitted on 2008-02-11 10:24:21 CST ---Myst Online? What, exactly, would that be? A thousand people on the same server, each slowly tracing their screen with their mouse, waiting for the pointer to turn into a hand so they can continue with the game?
'Myst Online' by Beauturkey Submitted on 2008-02-11 11:21:51 CST ..is a great game! It's a freakin amazing looking game too! I mean, you met people and went through giant "puzzles" together..or "ages" You got your own house and although most everything was instanced, it worked.
I wish more games were totally original like it. Not for everyone, but great still.
Beau
'Myst too' by scytale2 Submitted on 2008-02-11 11:48:26 CST When games like this shut down, something tells me that the free market is not working properly. Either that or it's still far too expensive to run an MMO. With Metaplace aren't we all supposed to be able have our own MMO, just like our own email address, so why is it too expensive to run Myst On-line?
Basically the game will have shut down before its main market will have ever seen it. Puzzles are big business - just ask the person who designed the Nintendo brain exercise programmes....
'Myst Online' by tanstaafl Submitted on 2008-02-11 15:11:19 CST Myst Online had a good idea and I liked the whole "you're in the cavern" setup, but I think the main problem was that after a while there just wasn't enough game there to justify it as an MMO.
There were about a dozen ages you could visit and solve puzzles in, but once you had visited and solved them all, what was there left to do? The main playerbase seemed to think that the devs would be releasing a new age with new puzzles every month but that never seemed to be the case.
When new content was released it was usually solved by most players within a few days. At this point you are left with nothing but a fancy chat room until the next bit of new content comes along. Some players tried to get past this with some heavier RP and the devs did try to have characters in-game to advance the storyline, but there is only so much of that you can do. In the end the game failed because most of the time there was nothing to *do*.
I liked the game because it was nice to see an MMO that emphasized exploration and puzzle-solving over all else (the game didn't even have a combat system) but I know I haven't even logged in for a few months.
Given that it would take a larger than normal staff to keep a steady flow of content into the game and that it was probably only getting a small slice of the monthly Gametap fees from its players it was probably inevitable that it would be canceled.
One suggestion that I had seen was to allow the players to have access to some set of the development tools and to let them create puzzle ages (maybe linked to or through their reltos) for the other players to solve. This would have solved the lack of content problem and the world creation aspects may have actually encouraged more players. I don't know why they didn't go that route.
'good show' by Milodacat Submitted on 2008-02-12 00:12:07 CST Hey, great show as usual.
Is it just me or does all this chatter lately about the evolution of the MMO market, with things like RMT and console porting.... it all makes me feel like, at the grand old age of 34, I might be getting aged out of the MMO market.
While I understand the market/financial reasons for all of it, none of these "new paradigms" seem to be MMO environments I'd be interested in taking part in. I won't be "taking my ball and going home", but I'm a bit worried that a couple of years from now I'll find myself looking for another hobby. Guess we'll see how it goes. :)
'oops' by Milodacat Submitted on 2008-02-12 00:13:06 CST crap, I'm actually 33..... must be getting senile.
'Two Comments' by Crovan Submitted on 2008-02-12 09:23:50 CST Great show (I guess that means there will be three).
First, on Nintendo, I think the intransigence on the MMO front shows a kind of trend that is pervasive in Japanese business. Making console gaming accessible to the entire family has always been Nintendo's gig, but from what I see, many Japanese businesses, contrary to popular belief, are not the greatest out of the box thinkers. Change in the business environment is something to be afraid of, here. Moving an MMO to the Wii would probably be feasible, but is unlikely to happen. The public statement by the president of the company means that his successors are locked into that view as well, since countermanding the directive of your senior/superior causes a loss of face for both parties, so unless it becomes vital to Nintendo's success to create an MMO version of Harvest Moon, I don't see them changing their minds. It's silly, but that doesn't make it any less true. Just my marginally qualified two cents as a gaijin spending a year here.
On the topic of RMT, it bothered me for awhile why CCP doesn't do more to combat the issue. After consideration, though, it occurs to me that to crack down on it in either of the ways you suggested would severely undermine their consistent efforts for a very laissez-faire economy. No other game economy is more deadly to the gullible than New Eden's. A Runescape like solution would not be palatable to EVE players, and from an in-game perspective, the single sharded server means that even with a chronic farming issue, the ISK bought with RMT is barely a drop in the bucket. The out of game links to credit card fraud are still an issue, but bought ISK is not going to kill the economy the way it could in a system with a lower money supply, thus I think we are more likely to see CCP take the third option and go after these companies the way Blizzard has apparently begun to. If they can show some kind of credit fraud and undermine the various operations without touching their economy, even if it takes a lot longer, I sincerely believe they will let the farmers have that extra time to avoid what could essentially be putting a tuning fork to the champagne flute of their player economy.
'Wii' by scytale2 Submitted on 2008-02-13 07:57:48 CST It can't be long until a competitor to the Wii copmes along and it would be just what they would need to offer, say, Starcraft On-line, to sell hundreds of consoles. If Nintendo are too short-sighted, someone else won't be. It's pretty obvious that this is the next gen type of MMO, that you might play with friends in entertainment houses or at home in the near future.
'Myst Online?' by Nosferum
Submitted on 2008-02-11 10:24:21 CST
---Myst Online? What, exactly, would that be? A thousand people on the same server, each slowly tracing their screen with their mouse, waiting for the pointer to turn into a hand so they can continue with the game?
'Myst Online' by Beauturkey
Submitted on 2008-02-11 11:21:51 CST
..is a great game! It's a freakin amazing looking game too! I mean, you met people and went through giant "puzzles" together..or "ages" You got your own house and although most everything was instanced, it worked.
I wish more games were totally original like it. Not for everyone, but great still.
Beau
'Myst too' by scytale2
Submitted on 2008-02-11 11:48:26 CST
When games like this shut down, something tells me that the free market is not working properly. Either that or it's still far too expensive to run an MMO. With Metaplace aren't we all supposed to be able have our own MMO, just like our own email address, so why is it too expensive to run Myst On-line?
Basically the game will have shut down before its main market will have ever seen it. Puzzles are big business - just ask the person who designed the Nintendo brain exercise programmes....
'Myst Online' by tanstaafl
Submitted on 2008-02-11 15:11:19 CST
Myst Online had a good idea and I liked the whole "you're in the cavern" setup, but I think the main problem was that after a while there just wasn't enough game there to justify it as an MMO.
There were about a dozen ages you could visit and solve puzzles in, but once you had visited and solved them all, what was there left to do? The main playerbase seemed to think that the devs would be releasing a new age with new puzzles every month but that never seemed to be the case.
When new content was released it was usually solved by most players within a few days. At this point you are left with nothing but a fancy chat room until the next bit of new content comes along. Some players tried to get past this with some heavier RP and the devs did try to have characters in-game to advance the storyline, but there is only so much of that you can do. In the end the game failed because most of the time there was nothing to *do*.
I liked the game because it was nice to see an MMO that emphasized exploration and puzzle-solving over all else (the game didn't even have a combat system) but I know I haven't even logged in for a few months.
Given that it would take a larger than normal staff to keep a steady flow of content into the game and that it was probably only getting a small slice of the monthly Gametap fees from its players it was probably inevitable that it would be canceled.
One suggestion that I had seen was to allow the players to have access to some set of the development tools and to let them create puzzle ages (maybe linked to or through their reltos) for the other players to solve. This would have solved the lack of content problem and the world creation aspects may have actually encouraged more players. I don't know why they didn't go that route.
'good show' by Milodacat
Submitted on 2008-02-12 00:12:07 CST
Hey, great show as usual.
Is it just me or does all this chatter lately about the evolution of the MMO market, with things like RMT and console porting.... it all makes me feel like, at the grand old age of 34, I might be getting aged out of the MMO market.
While I understand the market/financial reasons for all of it, none of these "new paradigms" seem to be MMO environments I'd be interested in taking part in. I won't be "taking my ball and going home", but I'm a bit worried that a couple of years from now I'll find myself looking for another hobby. Guess we'll see how it goes. :)
'oops' by Milodacat
Submitted on 2008-02-12 00:13:06 CST
crap, I'm actually 33..... must be getting senile.
'Two Comments' by Crovan
Submitted on 2008-02-12 09:23:50 CST
Great show (I guess that means there will be three).
First, on Nintendo, I think the intransigence on the MMO front shows a kind of trend that is pervasive in Japanese business. Making console gaming accessible to the entire family has always been Nintendo's gig, but from what I see, many Japanese businesses, contrary to popular belief, are not the greatest out of the box thinkers. Change in the business environment is something to be afraid of, here. Moving an MMO to the Wii would probably be feasible, but is unlikely to happen. The public statement by the president of the company means that his successors are locked into that view as well, since countermanding the directive of your senior/superior causes a loss of face for both parties, so unless it becomes vital to Nintendo's success to create an MMO version of Harvest Moon, I don't see them changing their minds. It's silly, but that doesn't make it any less true. Just my marginally qualified two cents as a gaijin spending a year here.
On the topic of RMT, it bothered me for awhile why CCP doesn't do more to combat the issue. After consideration, though, it occurs to me that to crack down on it in either of the ways you suggested would severely undermine their consistent efforts for a very laissez-faire economy. No other game economy is more deadly to the gullible than New Eden's. A Runescape like solution would not be palatable to EVE players, and from an in-game perspective, the single sharded server means that even with a chronic farming issue, the ISK bought with RMT is barely a drop in the bucket. The out of game links to credit card fraud are still an issue, but bought ISK is not going to kill the economy the way it could in a system with a lower money supply, thus I think we are more likely to see CCP take the third option and go after these companies the way Blizzard has apparently begun to. If they can show some kind of credit fraud and undermine the various operations without touching their economy, even if it takes a lot longer, I sincerely believe they will let the farmers have that extra time to avoid what could essentially be putting a tuning fork to the champagne flute of their player economy.
'Wii' by scytale2
Submitted on 2008-02-13 07:57:48 CST
It can't be long until a competitor to the Wii copmes along and it would be just what they would need to offer, say, Starcraft On-line, to sell hundreds of consoles. If Nintendo are too short-sighted, someone else won't be. It's pretty obvious that this is the next gen type of MMO, that you might play with friends in entertainment houses or at home in the near future.