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 #58 - GDC Day FourFri, 9 Mar 2007 10:44:00 GMT [download/play]
Day four at the Game Developer's Conference. Brenden from FalconTwin.com arrives to help with the reporting of GDC Day 4 and a huge help he is as he adds insight to our interview and reactions to the private demonstration of Pirates of the Burning Sea that Flying Labs was kind enough to provide. Following the demo Brenden and I discuss what we saw. We also drop by the SOE booth and have a lively conversation with Alan Crosby the Global Director of Community Relations. We attended some excellent sessions during the day and also had the opportunity to attend two excellent parties this evening, all of which we'll discuss on tomorrow's show.
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, and many many more. The main site can be found at http://www.VirginWorlds.com
'damnit...' by darrenl Submitted on 2007-03-09 09:38:51 CST ...now I have to put Pirates on my playlist.
You guys are killing my wallet here...just killing it ;)
Again, great work on getting the 411 on the games guys. Good to hear Brenden again.
'Brenlo & Pirates' by Wilhelm2451 Submitted on 2007-03-09 12:40:51 CST I will attest to the fact that Brenlo did openly mock the HR person about not playing any of the SOE games while I was in their booth.
Good stuff on PotBS! Got me interested in the title as well.
'The source for NOTHING!' by Bman Submitted on 2007-03-10 18:28:33 CST Correction to my comments in the podcast: according to the PotBS forums, the game does not use the Source engine. I think I read "Steam" at some point in the past and remembered "Source", even though they're not the same thing.
'An HR MMO???' by scytale2 Submitted on 2007-03-11 04:46:11 CST Well, it's pretty certain that the lady in question is not the only SOE female employee who does not play an MMO. I suppose if the market is saturated, then there is no danger that any of their female employees will play an MMO? Perhaps a bit of cheap market research amongst their own non-playing staff is in order? Or perhaps they could follow the lead of male-biased contemporary games and spend $2m on upgrading the fuselage of their dreadnoughts and the women will come flooding in...
I sense that there are two camps who don't speak to each other here:
Camp 1: The gameplayers, who are just that little bit embarrassed about being a game-player that they don't want to invite non-gameplayers in, for fear of being ridiculed
Camp 2: The non-gameplayers, who have convinced themselves that gaming is just for kids and people will think them less grown-up and more irresponsible, if they partake (which may not be a bad thing).
'The "Story" Issue' by scytale2 Submitted on 2007-03-11 05:10:37 CST One of the biggest areas of enjoyment for LOTRO is the peripheral participation in the LOTR book, so this is clearly a positive benefit to any MMO, thatchooses to do this.
Brent mentioned on a previous podcast how impressed he was with the start of the Tanvu area on Vanguard, where there is a twist in the story, which immediately immerses you into the world.
For fans of BG and NWN, how many would like to meet with Deekin in an MMO? I bumped into a cleric character yesterday called Anomen in Vanguard:) We remember these characters who helped us in the SP environment, as if they were friends and some through their dialogue can sometimes help us through RL issues. Consider the racism discussions in NWN2, for instance...
Anyway, I understand Brendan's comment about the "story" issue - it's a bit contrived in both the games mentioned. However, were the story driven through, with voice, cut scenes, video, alternate RP options (as is being done to a tiny extent in Vanguard), and real impact on your character depending upon the selections you make, then I think the story idea is a winner.
Bear in mind that there are a lot of cinema goers and book readers out there. Wouldn't you like quests in the game to be like watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, rather than "slaughter mindlessly 47 wolves"?
'its all about imlementation' by darrenl Submitted on 2007-03-13 15:17:13 CST Going to have to disagree with Brenden on the story issue. One day, I think an MMO will nail the implementation of a story line into the game....heck, LoTR might be that game, not sure.
After all, FPSs had about as much plot as a porn flick until Half-Life came along and set a new bar for including a main plot.
....its only a matter of time before we get the Half-Life of the MMO world.
'uh oh' by Brent Submitted on 2007-03-13 18:04:01 CST Darren, do you realize that you just reference Half Life as evidence in an argument with Brenden. Was real nice knowing you... good luck on this one.
/wink
'oh crap...' by darrenl Submitted on 2007-03-13 18:51:28 CST ...delete...delete...
You said he wouldn't care if I mentioned half-life. You lied to me Brent! You liiiiied!!
:)
'..wait a minute' by darrenl Submitted on 2007-03-13 18:58:34 CST yeah...just checking...
I also referenced porn, so the half-life reference should go un-noticed.
shhhhhhh...everyone be quiet. Brendon's vision is based on movement.
'damnit...' by darrenl
Submitted on 2007-03-09 09:38:51 CST
...now I have to put Pirates on my playlist.
You guys are killing my wallet here...just killing it ;)
Again, great work on getting the 411 on the games guys. Good to hear Brenden again.
'Brenlo & Pirates' by Wilhelm2451
Submitted on 2007-03-09 12:40:51 CST
I will attest to the fact that Brenlo did openly mock the HR person about not playing any of the SOE games while I was in their booth.
Good stuff on PotBS! Got me interested in the title as well.
'The source for NOTHING!' by Bman
Submitted on 2007-03-10 18:28:33 CST
Correction to my comments in the podcast: according to the PotBS forums, the game does not use the Source engine. I think I read "Steam" at some point in the past and remembered "Source", even though they're not the same thing.
'An HR MMO???' by scytale2
Submitted on 2007-03-11 04:46:11 CST
Well, it's pretty certain that the lady in question is not the only SOE female employee who does not play an MMO. I suppose if the market is saturated, then there is no danger that any of their female employees will play an MMO? Perhaps a bit of cheap market research amongst their own non-playing staff is in order? Or perhaps they could follow the lead of male-biased contemporary games and spend $2m on upgrading the fuselage of their dreadnoughts and the women will come flooding in...
I sense that there are two camps who don't speak to each other here:
Camp 1: The gameplayers, who are just that little bit embarrassed about being a game-player that they don't want to invite non-gameplayers in, for fear of being ridiculed
Camp 2: The non-gameplayers, who have convinced themselves that gaming is just for kids and people will think them less grown-up and more irresponsible, if they partake (which may not be a bad thing).
'The "Story" Issue' by scytale2
Submitted on 2007-03-11 05:10:37 CST
One of the biggest areas of enjoyment for LOTRO is the peripheral participation in the LOTR book, so this is clearly a positive benefit to any MMO, thatchooses to do this.
Brent mentioned on a previous podcast how impressed he was with the start of the Tanvu area on Vanguard, where there is a twist in the story, which immediately immerses you into the world.
For fans of BG and NWN, how many would like to meet with Deekin in an MMO? I bumped into a cleric character yesterday called Anomen in Vanguard:) We remember these characters who helped us in the SP environment, as if they were friends and some through their dialogue can sometimes help us through RL issues. Consider the racism discussions in NWN2, for instance...
Anyway, I understand Brendan's comment about the "story" issue - it's a bit contrived in both the games mentioned. However, were the story driven through, with voice, cut scenes, video, alternate RP options (as is being done to a tiny extent in Vanguard), and real impact on your character depending upon the selections you make, then I think the story idea is a winner.
Bear in mind that there are a lot of cinema goers and book readers out there. Wouldn't you like quests in the game to be like watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, rather than "slaughter mindlessly 47 wolves"?
'its all about imlementation' by darrenl
Submitted on 2007-03-13 15:17:13 CST
Going to have to disagree with Brenden on the story issue. One day, I think an MMO will nail the implementation of a story line into the game....heck, LoTR might be that game, not sure.
After all, FPSs had about as much plot as a porn flick until Half-Life came along and set a new bar for including a main plot.
....its only a matter of time before we get the Half-Life of the MMO world.
'uh oh' by Brent
Submitted on 2007-03-13 18:04:01 CST
Darren, do you realize that you just reference Half Life as evidence in an argument with Brenden. Was real nice knowing you... good luck on this one.
/wink
'oh crap...' by darrenl
Submitted on 2007-03-13 18:51:28 CST
...delete...delete...
You said he wouldn't care if I mentioned half-life. You lied to me Brent! You liiiiied!!
:)
'..wait a minute' by darrenl
Submitted on 2007-03-13 18:58:34 CST
yeah...just checking...
I also referenced porn, so the half-life reference should go un-noticed.
shhhhhhh...everyone be quiet. Brendon's vision is based on movement.