Blizzard, the MMORPG that has yet to be made

For a while it looked like the only successful MMORPGs would be Fantasy-based. Well most were using a Tolkienesque universe in which to allow players and their characters to explorer and roam.

But then, slowly but surely, we started seeing science-fiction based MMOs, some successful (EVE Online), some not so much (Earth & Beyond anyone?). Now, with Star Trek Online and Black Prophecy soon to be released, it looks like that genre is finally coming into the main stream of MMO games.

But science-fiction is not just limited to futuristic space combat! So many settings have yet to be explored by developer and players a like, that one would think we lack creativity and a need for diversity?

(Image used with permission from Wm. Robert Johnston. Original can be found here.)

Take for example an Ice Age, or Glacial Age since that's really the correct term. Now here's a setting that would be amazing for an MMO. Think of pockets of humanity scattered on cold and desolate continent of ice, where huge pack of 5-feet high wolves roam in packs of 20, 30 or even hundreds. A land where the Mammoth are once again the biggest beast on land, or where the illustrious Yeti walks the land terrorizing human outposts. Hell why not! A world where one has to travel far south to visit the last remaining cities on Earth. Can you picture it?

I could probably go on and on, but I think you get the idea. Now, I no Game Designer, so I have thought of all the details and possibilities, but I just can't fathom that we're going to limit ourselves to Elves and Dwarves or Spaceship and asteroid fields.

There's gotta more out there then dusting off an old franchise and wrapping it up in an MMO carcase.

What other settings would you like to see come to life? I'd love to know your ideas!

EVE Online Postcards for Wednesday February 24th, 2010

Who ever said that mining was boring, never took a long look at the vistas that New Eden provides! Ok, ok, I may be stretching it here just a little be, but nevertheless you have to agree with Maeve on this one, that ORE mining barge (a Retriever I believe) with the star partially hidden behind nebula are drop dead gorgeous!

See, I told you you'd find it pretty!

You realize you play EVE Online too much when... (Part 2)

Back in July when I first ran this list I had a few items on that list. But I got a load of great comments and had promised to put a list together from those. So here goes!

You realize you play EVE Online too much when...

1. You try to run from an accident so you don't get podded, Kyle Langdon
2. You consider buying a new PC solely to play eve on maximum GFX settings, Fluffydave
3. You're driving along and then abruptly get stuck at a red light and the first thing you think is "lag!", Latro
4. Parking your car in the garage you hear "Docking Request…Accepted" in your head. And you like it, Rettic
5. You sign your emails with your ingame name, Flashfresh
6. You go train more charisma skills when you make a social idiot of yourself, Rakanishu
7. The first thing you do on any computer after boot up is launch EVEMon, Kirith Kodachi
8. You don't need to play with the sound on because your brain adds all the sounds for you, SubtleQuiche
9. You wonder how many high slots are on the ship in the movie Wall-E, Phelps
10. Police DUI stop, first thought "Gatecamp!", Zarro Starkiler

Great list guys! Got anymore?

Planetary Control Contest - A bit of reading, and then some...

When I set out to organize this contest earlier this month, I certainly didn't expect to receive so many good submissions, and neither did I expect to be right on the money by choosing "planetary control" as a subject matter. Though the DUST 514 announcement (for a console-based FPS that would impact the MMO) will have an interesting effect on EVE's sovereignty, it has in no way affected the judging of the articles for this contest.

In judging these amazing articles, I'm not only look for originality in the concepts being put forward, but also in the quality, clarity and originality of the writing. Here below is the full list of participants, as well as a few late comers who, though they will not be eligible to win, still deserved to be given a good read!

Enjoy and wish me luck!

1. Corrupted Datacore - Feet First - Planetary Control
2. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah - Planetary Control Contest
3. Uninvited But Not Unloved - Planetary Control
4. My God, it's full of Stars - Planetary Control Proposal (follow-up thoughts)
5. The Captains Log - Planetray Control
6. A Misguided Adventure - Planetary Conquest, my idea
7. A Mule in EVE - Behold the planet Atlas..a fictional tale - Mechanics behind player controlled systems
8. TCL987's Blog - EVE Online: Planetary Conquest Article Contest Submission
9. A Sebiestor Scholar - Planetary Control
10. Death's Sweetest Kiss - Planetary Conquistadors!
11. Bellum Eternus - Crazy Kinux's dev interview contest entry- Fiction Component, Design Component
12. Achernar - Depopulate, repopulate. Lololol.
13. Adventures in Mission Running - On Controlling Worlds
14. Anomaly T - More Than a Rock - Planetary Control: Colonies and Capital
15. Level Cap - EVE Online - Home Worlds

And the late comers

• Flying Dangerous - Spirit in the Sky
• Pod Pilot - Planetary Control Part 1 - Planetary Control Part 2

I'm still going through the list, and should have the results by the end of the week, unless unforeseen events prevent me from doing so.

Last, but not least, thanks to my mate James Egan over at Massively, for giving the contest a bit of the limelight!

[Update: Missed Level Cap's entry. Added it to the list, making it 15 entries in total!]

Second Skin: Geeks, Freaks and MMOs

I've been playing table top games, RPGs, or video games long enough to remember a time when we were looked down upon. As with video games today, back when I was teenager, Role Playing Games were being blamed for suicides and other evils. We, who enjoyed these games, were looked at as freaks and made fun of. But over time more and more kids, teenagers and young adults started playing these RPGs and the negative vibe eventually went the way of the dodo.

Fast forward 25 years and we find ourselves, as (video) gamers in general, and MMORPG players in particular, in a similar situation. Actually, that not totally true. Over the last 2 to 3 years I've noticed a change in mass media's perception of gamers. A change for the positive. The nerds of the past have evolved into today's geeks (well some of us have anyways :p). With the advent of World of Warcraft, the term MMORPG has become much more mainstream recently. MMO players are less and less seen as antisocial-zombies living in virtual worlds as they escape the Real World. Studies are starting to come out which offer a positive image of gaming. MMORPG players are being seen as developping leadership skills due to the multiplayers colaborative nature of MMOs.

But then comes along a documentary like Second Skin. Premiered in March 2008, it follows World of Warcraft and Everquest players as their virtual lives clash with their real life obligations. But there's one big problem with the film. Now, don't get me wrong, the documentary is well made, the flow is just right and you can definitely see that the folks behind it are very talented. That's not where the problems lies. Let me explain.

For the pleasure of my US readers, here is the embedded video


Earlier this week, I had the chance to see the documentary before its released on the web earlier today. As I started watching I was excited about the prospect of seeing how we, as MMORPG players, would be portrayed. I had my hopes up that it would show how these games have brought millions of people together from all over the world. How they have allowed us to learn new skills (writing, blogging, podcasting, leading, etc.) and discover hidden talents we did not know we had. Or how a 16 year-old could successfully lead a guild or corporation of over 50 people (from all walks of life, social background or professional careers) to accomplish difficult goals. But my hopes quickly came crashing down.

What the folks behind Second Skin did though is focused on the "weird" behaviors of some MMO players. I'm not saying that everyone in the film is a weirdo, but what I am saying is that that's where the filmmakers decided to focus on. As I was watching the film, I couldn't help but tell myself that these were not the kind of folks I played with. These were not the types of people I had come to know over the last 5 years of playing EVE Online. And I don't think it's a "Well-this-is-how-WoW-players-are" kind of thing. I'm totally aware that a lot of MMO players have addictive-like behaviors when it comes to playing these games.

I just don't buy the idea that we're all like that. Never have, never will. It wasn't true for RPGs a quarter of a century ago, and it's still not true today for MMO players. It's as if you did a movie on religion, but only focused on the fundamentalist. Or a movie on wine making, but only focused on alcoholics. I don't feel that the movie does a good job at presenting a fair and realistic view of the MMO Gaming community.

I'd really be curious to know you're thoughts as well, but in my case this wasn't the MMO documentary I was hoping to see. Not by far.

I'm still waiting for that one.

You realize you play EVE Online too much when...

Inspired by a recent thread I read over the EVE Online Forums recently, I thought I'd come up with my take on the "you play too much EVE" list. I know that there's a plethora of these lists out there, but I thought I'd come up with one of my own, one that's true in my case, or has happened to me in the past.

You know you play EVE too much when...

1. You refer to your kids as your clones.
2. You keep click'n dragging screenshots and videos to move around and get a better point of view.
3. You keep confusing emails and eve-mails in conversations with co-workers.
4. Instead of saying goodbye to friends you tell them to "Fly Safe".
5. You've had nightmares about not having a skill in training.
6. Your Flickr accounts gets flagged because you've got way to much EVE screenshots as opposed to photos.
7. Your largest group of friends on Facebook are all capsuleers.
8. You...

How about you?

EVE Online: The Butterfly Effect

Yesterday afternoon, I received an encrypted email from CCP Games with information and an attached video. I was privileged to see their latest promotional video. I couldn't mention this to any of you since there was an embargo until 11:45am today.

But now I can!!

As you can see, it's a different approach that they're using, and I think it does a great job at highlighting the differences between EVE and most other MMOs.

So, is this the right approach to market EVE? What do yo think?

[YouTube video]

[Facebook page]

[CCP Games page]

EVE Online Postcards for Monday June 8th, 2009

And the Gates of Heaven lit up...

It's been a while since I last did a postcard post. The one I did was back in October of last year, and that of a stargate against the background of a star and planet. So as I take the baton and start running this series again, I thought it would be appropriate to cover that subject again.

The following screenshots were taken earlier this evening, as I travel 20-some jumps from Khanid Prime to Zirsem.

Inspiring n'est-ce pas?

See them all on my flickr accoount.

EVE Online Speedlinking for Saturday June 6th, 2009

It's been a very busy 2 weeks in the EVE blogging community. Indeed, early on Monday was added almost 300 new EVE blogs to my EVE Blogroll. The vast majority of the new blogs came over from Podlogs and Gamescribe, 2 new blogging platforms geared towards EVE Bloggers. Usually I list the new blogs on my Speedlinking posts, but in this case I've decided to part with tradition and only add those blogs which the owners have taken the effort to either post a comment on the Blogroll, or have written to me personally, letting me know about their new EVE blog. That's the list of blogs you'll find below.

Amongst the new blogs of the last 2 weeks:

• Break Vol
• The Eyes of the Hawk
• Dropping out of Warp
• EVE on High
• The Maverick Minmatar
• Blogganeers
• Talk Unafraid
• EvE Chronicles by Von Richtburg
• Ashireka's Adventures in EVE
• Adventures in Mission Running
• Declarations of War
• Phoenix Corporation (The)
• Soulprayer.de
• VelociLogic
• Revenge of the Voice (The)
• Yarrbear Tales
• Kai Honsou
• Inanity and Doom

Some in the EVE blogging community have voiced their concerns that so many new blogs might not be the best for the health of our nascent community. I amongst them, was certainly concerned enough to mention that quite a few of these new blogs might not be around for long, and may already have followed the Dodo. None though, have been as loud and elaborate in voicing their opinion then long time EVE blogger Spectre over at EVE Newb. You just have to head over and read "Your blog sucks". There's no way to sumarize that kind of post!

New EVE Blogging Community Monthly Extravaganza

• Calling all EVE Bloggers - If you have the writers itch!

EVE QEN Q1-2009

• 2009 is a good year .... for EVE (pdf)
• Kirith's Highlits of the 48 page document <-- If you're short on time!

New EVE Novel (upcoming)

• EVE: The Burning Life (Amazon.com) (Amazon.ca) (Amazon.uk.co)

Various

• @chainercygnus brings some interesting ideas to EVE Login Security in EVE & You <-- Late addition
• Station Trading Guide (via Kai Honsu)
• Drone Bay Episode #21 Special Fanfest '09 edition
• Fly Reckless Episode #32
• Podded is back after a hiatus with a few podcast under its wings in May (via @Mynxee)
• Your corp ship maintenance array and you, Letrange explores wormholes, ships and POSs
• Blinky on the next Alliance Tourney
• Over at the EVE Tribune Kirith's Fighting Spacecraft
• Shae explains the merrits of Interior Design for the Discerning Corporation over at the Hellcats
• The CSM results were made public and discussed here and there in the community
• Nyphur covers EVE Online's aggression mechanics in his lastest EVE Evolved series over at Massively.
• Roc reports on the success of Capsuleer!
• There were some late addition to our latest (8th) EVE Blog Banter, so make sure to head back and have a read!
• Check out EVE Online Postcards for some amazing screenshots of New Eden!
• Scopique explains the ins and out of living on the other side of a wormhole in Wormhole Shenanigans.

Non-EVE Gaming news items (mostly E3 stuff!)

• Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a plethora of great articles on Mass Effect 2, Star Wars The Old Republic, Diablo III and on the now FREE BattleForge!
• The Gaming-Griefer intelligently explores the dark and dirty world of violence in video games.
• GameSetWatch highlights the best news of the (E3) week.
• Last but not least, Hawty McBloggy (aka @bsangel) has some Halo coolness for us and some Project Natal funnies!

There you folks, see you again in 2 weeks. Well in regards to the Speedlinking that is! :D

The EVE Blogosphere passes the 500 blogs mark!

You read that right, FIVE HUNDRED PLUS blogs! The actual total is 535, but since some of the blogs aren't active anymore, I'm not gonna be fussy with the actual headcount.

This extraordinary turn of event is the result of the enthusiasm that reigns high in the EVE Blogosphere as well as the recent work of two dedicated member of the Capsuleer Class. I'm talking about the founders of both GameScribe and Podlogs, respectively @AnMiTh and @EddieGord0.

These two individual recently came to the same conclusion, and roughly at the same time: they both wanted to provide gamers, specifically EVE players, with a blogging platform geared towards their needs. And though you'd expect these two individuals to be fighting it out so that only one EVE blogging platform remained, the opposite is the actually the case. On top of having created some of the original EVE themes for GameScribe, the creator of Podlogs recently helped his GameScribe counterpart when the site was maliciously hacked late Friday evening. Unknown to @EddieGord0, a Podlogs fan hacked into GameScribe and temporarily disabled the site.

Through herculean efforts by @AnMiTh, GameScribe went back online before the end of the week-end. And though the new GameScribe Community was shaken by the unfortunate event, the site owner has redoubled his efforts and taken every precaution possible to prevent such hacking from occuring in the future.

As a witness to these events (via emails back-and-forth with the two site owners), I saw them help each other out in a very gentlemen-like behavior. It was a moment to be proud of as a member of the EVE Blogging Community!

Now getting back to the 535 EVE blogs, I already know what some of you "glass-is-half-empty individuals" are gonna tell me: a lot of these blogs don't have any content, nor article. I agree, some of them - including the one I created for my character - don't even have one post by their author. Indeed, it remains to be scenes if all these new blogs will be active , or still be active a month from now. Nevertheless, I remain optimistic that the EVE Blogosphere will thrive in the next few month. A lot of it will depend on the response we, experimented EVE Bloggers, give these blogging noobs. So if you come upon a blog that has little activity, write a comment. Maybe tease the author in writing something new. Who knows where this will lead.

And so, I leave you with this promise: in the next few weeks, I'll be working on creating several new lists, grouping these blogs by subjects matter, whether that be industry, pirate, PvP, Mission Runners, etc. But don't expect to see these lists soon, because at over 500 blogs, that's one fat gorilla!!

CK out!

EVE Blog Banter #8: Care for a little game of SecWars?

Welcome to the eighth installment of the EVE Blog Banter , the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here . Check out otherEVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month's topic comes to us from me, Ga'len at The Wandering Druid of Tranquility. He asks: "What new game mechanic or mechanics would you like to see created and brought into the EVE Online universe and how would this be incorporated into the current game universe? Be specific and give details, this is not meant to be a 'nerf this, boost my game play' post like we see on the EVE forums."

EVE Online Speedlinking for Saturday May 23rd, 2009

Over the last week the EVE Blogging Community literally exploded with over 200 new EVE blogs! First there was the Podlogs EVE blogging platform which launch on May 11th. With some great looking themes for all your capsuleers' content, it currently lists almost 50 EVE blogs.

Then came GameScribe, launched earlier this week as part of contest with some great EVE Online loot. The results of weeks of work and preparation by @AnMiTh, the genious behind Titan Weekly and the EVE Network News, the site now bosts more than 170 blogs!

Suffice to say, I'm hard at work trying to add all those blogs to my EVE Blogroll!

Before the explosions of new blogs happened, a few new EVE blogs had gained my attention. These are listed below.

New EVE Blogs:

• Matt's Blog - EVE Online
• GetThePod.com
• One Tired EVE Pilot
• EVE Journey
• The Loyalist
• Bump in the Night
• Zoology – Predators and Prey in New Eden
• SCC-Lounge
• The Nude Nerd
• EVE Blogging Platforms:
• GameScribe
• Podlogs

EVE Chronicles

• Houses of the Holy

From the Community:

• West Karana, EVE Online: A noob in New Eden
• The Ancient Gaming Noob
• Buy Your EVE Fanfest 2009 Pass with ISK
• Buzzard – No Skill Left Behind
• Kirith Kodachi over at EVE Tribune, Stealth Nerf / Un-Nerf
• Roc's Ramblings, Faction Warfare 101
• Articulated Sky, CSM 2009: What’s in it for you?
• CrazyKinux's Musing, EON issue #015 Table of Content
• Nursultan's Pirate Blag, Mission Busting Tips

Various:

• CCP Games won a Media Momentum award earlier this week, for Vision & Future Growth Potential (See page 6)
• Only 2 days after placing my order on Amazon.ca, I received Doug Chaing's "Robota" graphic novel and Daniel Simon's "Cosmic Motors: Spaceship, Cars and (sexy) Pilots of Another Galaxy" (more info on the latter in an upcoming post!)

Oh by the way, readers familiar with the EVE Speedlinking series will have noticed that I've once again moved the day of the week when I post the lists of links. Life being what it is, it's much easier for me to post these posts over the week-end then it is during the week. Thus the new schedule. Hope you don't mind!

Newest EVE Online Blogs to be added!

Well it's Friday! And in the tradition of my ol' EVE Online Speedlinking days, when I had the time to roam the intertubes freely without the worry of a full time job, I've put together a list of the new EVE Blogs that have recently been added to the EVE Blogroll.

Please take a moment to visit each one and drop a few comments to let them know they're part of the family.

Welcome guys, we're happy to have you on board!

• Zargyl - A Sebiestor Scholar
• R3volv3r's Blog
• A Pirate's Life For Me
• Shard (The)
• From the Desk of the CEO
• Once More From The Beginning
• Journey to New Eden
• Latro's Bunker
• EVE Online Postcards

Now, go on and comment!

Friday Video: Black Prophecy Cinematic Trailer

I've got to be honest, when I first saw a trailer for Black Prophecy, I was impressed. Really impressed.



Though this latest trailer's visuals are awe inspiring, I'm definitely not impressed with the voice over. Sounds like some sort of comedy trailer.