Key Features Revealed for Warrior Epic, New MMORPG from True Games

Key Features Revealed for Warrior Epic, New MMORPG from True Games
International publisher of multiplayer online games True Games Interactive has revealed some of the features and details for the anticipated MMORPG Warrior Epic. With a strong community growing around the Warrior Epic game even before launch, it seems clear that the concept behind the game has hit a chord with many gamers who are looking forward to participating in the game and devouring every screenshot that is available. Set to launch in spring of 2009, Warrior Epic is intended to put a dent in the amount of subscribers that flock to World of Warcraft to get their MMORPG fill

Warrior Epic is an action role-playing game based completely online and set in an original fantasy world. Players will find themselves in charge of a warrior hall where they handle all of their characters and their various adventures. With the ability to recruit from all manner of different types of warrior classes, each with its own style of play, the game is intended to have a strong replay value and generate massive amounts of interest from individuals who are more than happy to participate in this type of groundbreaking new game play.

The warrior hall under the players control can be upgraded to provide more functionality, bringing with it visual changes as well. Players can band together to adventure in a multiplayer campaign, or they can play solo or in adventure mode. In addition, no free MMORPG would be complete without the option of player versus player combat.

Naturally, anyone taking part in a popular MMORPG is already familiar with the concept of player versus player combat. One of the most popular aspects of these types of games, PVP is considered to be the cornerstone of the game, bringing enthusiasts from all walks of life and other MMORPG’s that are unsatisfied with the player versus player combat that is offered there. In games such as World of Warcraft, the player versus player combat is often referred to in derisive terms, due to the fact that players are required to spend time in a queue and then allowed to PK each other in only limited encounters. With the Warrior Epic game, player versus player combat takes on a completely new dynamic, offering players a whole new world to take advantage of.

Another extremely unique aspect of the Warrior Epic game is that death does not mean the end of a particular warrior. Opening up all manner of strategic options for players, the game’s unique system allows players to be revived or transformed into spirits that can be used to enhance weapons or even called out to inflict damage on opposing enemies.

With so many innovative features, it is easy to see why players are looking forward to the Warrior Epic game world and taking advantage of the tremendous level of interactive entertainment that is available there. Despite the fact that the game is nowhere near ready to launch, it has already generated a tremendous level of interest among users around the world.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/features-warrior-epic

MMORPG Reviewer

Once you’ve played a few MMORPGs, you’ve pretty much played them all. I’m not going to rant about all MMO games being clones of each other again, but I’d love to see an MMORPG do something revolutionary. Just a heads up, revolutionary doesn’t have to mean good. Even if a game with unique game play is terribly broken I would still give the game some credit for doing something out of the norm. With game companies churning out new titles each week, it’s getting difficult to review games, as nearly every game I review feels too much like another game I’ve already looked at. Don’t get me wrong, I love playing MMORPGs, but it’d be nice to have a bit of variety every now and then.

To be fair, the last few games I’ve looked at were pretty unique. S4 League was a blast to play, as it offered an alternative to the only other fast paced anime shooter, GunZ the Duel. Although S4 League didn’t exactly revolutionize it’s genre [Shooters], it did add variety to the genre. There really aren’t a lot of anime inspired shooting MMOs out there, so it made sense for Alaplayer to publish the game. Outspark also recently released their snowboarding MMO Project Powder, and it was fairly revolutionary, as it is the only snowboarding MMO out there! Publishers don’t always think like this though. There are countless fantasy MMORPGs out there today and publishers keep bringing more and more of them to the market. The problem with this is that developers continue to produce the same generic MMORPGs. I enjoy reviewing unique games like S4 League and Project Powder, but playing a generic fantasy MMORPG isn’t at all exciting.

If I were to play two games; one very polished 3D Fantasy MMORPG and a buggy 3D time traveling Sci-Fi MMORPG, odds are I’d write a more favorable review for the 3D Time traveling Sci-Fi MMORPG, as the game is unique. There are countless 3D Fantasy MMORPGs out there already that are phenomenal, the market doesn’t need more! If you’re looking for a good fantasy MMORPG, go ahead and play Florensia or even Silk Road Online, they’re both great games. Obviously if the Sci-Fi MMORPG was unplayable buggy, the generic fantasy MMORPG would receive a more favorable review, but my point is that developers need to innovate!

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/reviewing-mmorpgs

MMORPG Growth: Consoles or Cell phones?

With the explosive growth of MMORPGs on the PC, people are probably asking themselves when MMORPGs will come to consoles. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening… ever. Sony gambled by releasing their famous “Everquest” title to the Playstation 2 and the end result was failure. The game simply didn’t attract enough attention from gamers.

The console MMORPG market is simply too small. Let’s look at the numbers for a minute. For this scenario we will only look at the United States. Let’s assume that a fictional game publisher, Altay Games, wants to make an MMORPG for the console market. Let’s also assume that this MMORPG will be published on all three of the ‘next gen’ consoles, Wii, Xbox360 and Playstation 3. If you all up all the ‘next gen’ console sales, you’ll end up with approximately 29 million units. There are over 200 million internet users in the US. Those numbers alone are discouraging enough for a game publisher to even consider trying to bring an MMORPG to the console, but let’s go a bit further. For a game publisher to release a game on any console, they have to pay the company that owns the console, in this case our fictional game publisher, Altay Games, would have to pay a license fee to Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. On top of those fees, how the heck could Altay Games collect monthly subscription fees? They’d have to work with all three console companies to develop a platform to collect monthly subscriptions. At the end, there is no way any MMORPG company can justify all these expenses for such a small market. There are simply too many barriers to entry.

MMORPGs have thrived on the PC simply because there are no barriers to entry for a game publisher. If we look at Outspark, the company behind Secret of the Solstice and Fiesta, it’s amazing how easy it is to publish MMORPGs. Outspark’s business plan, like most MMORG Publishers, is to bring popular MMORPGs from Asia to the United States. Since MMORPGs in Asia are already on the PC, there are no expenses relating to porting the game or anything. The only expenses MMORPG Publishers face today to bring an MMORPG to the United States is licensing and translation fees. Sure there are other fees associated with maintaining a game, but it’s a lot cheaper to publish an MMORPG on the PC than a console.

If MMORPGs can’t expand to consoles, where can they expand? I Predict cell phones. Think about it. The cell phone market is ginormous; yes that’s actually a word. Almost every single person in the United States has a cell phone, and even people in Asia and Europe have cell phones. Believe it or not, there are almost twice as many cell phone users worldwide than internet users. With cell phones being a bigger market than PCs and automatically having access to some sort of internet, MMORPGs have a lot of room to potential here. One free MMORPG that I found extremely fascinating was Shadow of Legend. The game is playable on both cell phones and PCs. The game doesn’t have ‘Perfect World’ like graphics, but they’re tolerable. When I first started playing the game on the PC, I was wondering why the game had such poor graphics, but after I learned that the game works on cell phones, I was immediately impressed. Sure the game had its faults, but cell phone MMORPGs are still extremely new.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/mmorpg-growth-consoles-or-cell-phones

The Free MMORPG Genre

As I’ve mentioned in my previous articles, the free MMORPG industry is growing by leaps and bounds every year. New MMORPGs and MMO games are being released on an almost weekly basis here in the United States. Games like MapleStory and Scions of Fate each have over 70 million players worldwide; that’s right, EACH game has over 70 Million players, while the most well known MMORPG, World of Warcraft, has only 10 million users. Of course this isn’t exactly a fair comparison as World of Warcraft has a monthly fee while the two games I mentioned don’t, but even so, it would be silly to call the free MMORPG genre small. With such an incredible amount of popularity you would imagine that free MMORPGs would get a lot more attention by the main stream gaming networks, but they don’t.

Networks like G4 almost completely ignore the free MMORPG genre. It’s as if they don’t even acknowledge its existence. There aren’t any major print magazines that follow free MMORPGs either, except for maybe a specialty publication with little circulation. Let us analyze the free MMORPG market for a bit. There literally hundreds of free online MMORPGs out in the US market already with countless games currently in closed beta. Nexon’s MapleStory game in the United States alone makes over $30 million a year and it is expected to increase in 2008. With big publishers like Outspark, Netgame, AeriaGames and Gpotato releasing new games almost every month, the industry is poised to continue growing.

The only MMORPG that gets any attention at all in traditional gaming magazines and outlets is World of Warcraft. We’ve heard a lot of buzz around Age of Conan as well, but it’s still a pay to play game. With the incredible growth of free MMORPGs I wouldn’t be surprised if the pay to play genre was completely eliminated in the next 10 years. There really are no successful pay to play MMORPGs out there anymore due to fierce competition. Previously popular pay to play MMORPGs like Ultima Online and Everquest are losing subscribers each and every day. Gamers are flocking over to free to play MMORPGs. The only real pay to play game that’s performing well is World of Warcraft, and that phenomenon can’t last forever. Think about it; would Facebook be as popular as it is today if it required a monthly fee to access? Of course not! Facebook is free to use for consumers because the company can make money through advertisements and selling Facebook gifts [The little images you can send your friends for usually a dollar]. If you look at in free MMORPG terms the Facebook gifts are like cash shop items. They allow the company to make money off a free product or service. I can’t see pay to play business models still being around in 10 years, as there are already so many free to play games out there today and there will only be more in the future.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/the-free-mmorpg-genre

MMORPG Addiction

All MMORPG gamers know that playing an MMORPG is significantly different than playing an FPS or any other video game. Other video games simply don’t have the same sense of community and progression as MMORPGs or the same sense of accomplishment when leveling up. I’ve been playing MMORPGs ever since I was 11 years old and have grown up playing MMORPGs. I’ve played everything from Everquest to World of Warcraft and while doing so I’ve also been actively engaged in traditional gaming like console games and non MMORPG Pc games.

Throughout my entire gaming career I’ve never looked at the two as equals. I’ve always felt that what happened in MMORPGs “mattered more” than what happened in other games and sometimes more important than what happened in real life. I would get more excited about finding a rare item in say World of Warcraft or finding an amazing deal on a scroll in MapleStory than real live events like acing a test or going to the movies. During my days of playing Everquest, I would at times forget to eat, because I was so hooked on the game. Obviously, at some point I would have to grab something to eat, but even as I got hungry, I couldn’t bring myself to get off my computer and grab a snack, as I felt some sort of need to keep playing as I wanted to continue getting stronger in the game. I also remember that whenever I had to go to the bathroom, I would literally SPRINT to the bathroom and when I finished my business SPRINT back to the computer to continue playing. I’ve always played non MMORPGs, but they were never the same, as I never found myself playing any non MMORPG for more than 5 hours at a time. When I played Everquest, five hours was nothing. From the moment I woke up, I would SPRINT to my PC and start playing until I had to go to bed. I would only play non MMORPGs when I was taking a break from an MMORPGs, as beating a single player game never felt as good as leveling up in an online game.

When I was addicted to MapleStory I would play the game every single day. Every day after school, my brother and my two friends that also played MapleStory would come over to my house and we would all grind together from 3PM to 8:30PM each and every day. At 8:30PM they would go home and play from their own homes. Because I had 8 computers on my network, I could have a lot of people playing MMOs with me. I went through this exact same cycle when I played World of Warcraft, but the only difference was that I had four friends coming over every day to play with me. We would blast music from one of the computers and all grind together for hours on end.

Now that I’m older, I still find myself playing mostly free MMORPGs, but not to the point of playing them the entire day, but that’s partly because I haven’t been super addicted to any one MMORPG lately except for maybe Perfect World and Fly for Fun, as I still play them regularly. When I find another great game, odds are I’ll get hooked and play all day. I’m convinced though, that MMORPGs are addictive. The most addictive component is the sense of progression. MMORPGs make you feel that once you become higher level, you’ll be able to dominate the game and have a lot more fun than you’re having at lower levels. It’s that sense of being awesomely strong in the future that keeps you coming back. The only games that can keep you hooked for 5+ hours at a time are MMORPGs, and if that’s not addiction, I don’t know what is.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/mmorpg-addiction

The Social Aspects of MMORPGs

t is often claimed that video games is an anti social hobby. This label may be true for most videos games but I feel it does not apply to MMORPGs. Socializing with other players is one of the key aspects of any MMORPG worth its salt. Even more importantly, the kind of people you talk to in a game may be different than the kind you socialize with in real life. I’ve been playing MMOs for years and some of my fondness memories are my discussions with the type of people I would never of had the opportunity to talk with in real life. Take for example a newly wed German couple I met in Ultima Online or the Chinese woman I chatted with for an hour while I grinded (she wanted to use my PayPal account to sell gold, she couldn’t set one up in China…)

Developers have finally caught on to how important the socializing aspect is in these online games. For years features such as guilds, private messages, and in-game mail were included but recently new MMORPGs are springing up that place a greater emphasis on socialization. Below I shall discuss some that come to mind.

First up is Mabinogi. This is a new game, at least in North America published by Nexon. Mabinogi has all the classic features of a fantasy MMORPG, dungeons to explore, monsters to slay, etc. But Mabinogi is also a very accessible game. A player’s level is not the only thing that matters. Mabinogi has a built in music writing system that lets players create memorable music and start camp fires that people can sit around and sing their tunes.

Maple Story is one of the most successful free to play games. The casual nature of the game and the social aspects are the key to its success. Besides guilds and party quests (PQ), players in Maple Story can get married.

Oz World is a bit different than the the games mentioned above. MapleStory and Mabinogi are both full fledged MMORPGs while Oz World is a purely social experience. There is no fighting in Oz World, players just fish and talk. Oz World also lets players decorate their own houses.

MMORPGs let gamers talk with and learn from people all around the world. So the next time you see someone grinding away in the same cave as you, be sure to strike up a conversation. That way, the next time someone says you need to get out more, you can tell them about your conversation with an engineer from the Philippians.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/the-social-aspects-of-mmorpgs

MMORPGs Can Improve Your Typing and Reading Skills!

I remember when I first began playing MMORPGs It took me forever to type simple sentences as I was only 12 years old at the time. The game I began my MMORPG career with was Ultima Online, and like every other MMORPG the game had a community, and if I wanted to find some people to hunt with or trade with, I’d have to talk to them. The only real way to get better at something, it to keep doing it; and playing MMORPGs forces you to interact with people online.

Aside from teaching you to type faster, MMORPGs can also help you read better to. Because I started playing MMORPGs at such a young age, having to interact with other players has helped my vocabulary grow. Having to constantly read and understand quest dialogue, MMORPGs actually force players to read. Having to constantly read quest dialogue and user chat, players will indirectly improve their own vocabulary and reading level.

Playing MMORPGs is a great way for kids to learn while having fun! Come to think of it, I learned how to read almost entirely through playing games like “Legend of Zelda” and “Final Fantasy”, as those games forced me to read in order to progress in the game. Obviously I learned the basics of reading at school, but school can’t force you to master something that you have no interest in; I mean come on, how many kids are excited to go to school and practice reading? Games like Fly For Fun and MapleStory are extremely family friendly so even younger players will learn while having fun. My typing skills improve every single day, as I’m constantly interacting with people online. I just took a typing test, and I type 70 words per minute with 98% accuracy, and I’ve never taken any typing classes.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/mmorpgs-can-improve-your-typing-and-reading-skills

MMOs Are a Breath of Fresh Air.

When you look at MMORPGs they all feel so similar. I already wrote an article about how all MMORPGs are the same, and I’d like to be a bit more positive this time around and write about MMOs. Unlike MMORPGs, MMOs all feel unique, as they are all incredibly different. For all of you that don’t know the difference between MMORPG and MMO, it’s simple; MMORPGs are role play games, while MMOs are everything else where you don’t have to run around killing monsters to level up. If you still aren’t sure what the difference is, games like GunZ: The Duel, Shot Online, Richman Online are MMOs while games like MapleStory, 12Sky and Fly for Fun are MMORPGs.

MMOs are more unique than MMORPGs simply because they cover so many different genres. While MMORPGs are very similar games like Shot Online, a golf MMO, and GunZ: The Duel, a fast paced shooter, are completely different. I recently played Combat Arms, a first person shooter MMO by Nexon, and absolutely loved the game. Unlike other MMO Shooters, Combat Arms felt very polished and balanced. Although Combat Arms is a first person shooter like a lot of other MMOs, the game felt distinctly different.

Even though MMOs do overlap themes often, they are rarely as similar as MMORPGs are. Games like WolfTeam and Combat Arms are both first person shooters, but they’re not similar at all, as in WolfTeam, the game allows players to transform themselves into a werewolf that specializes in close combat fighting, which adds an entirely new layer of game play. Most MMORPGs don’t have these sort of major differences, but rather have only extremely subtle differences. There are simply so many different MMOs out there that all play extremely different from each other.

If you’re tired of playing MMORPGs but like the RPG / Leveling up elements of those games, I strongly recommend you try out some MMO games. Odds are you’ve never played a basketball MMO before, so why not try it out? FreeStyle: Street Basketball is actually a great game. It’s fast paced, balanced game play and 100% free. I recently played an MMO called “Richman Online” and the game was pretty impressive, as the game combined board game style game play with the RPG elements, making the game incredibly unique. I believe that MMORPGs can be just as unique as MMOs, but developers today simply aren’t willing to take risks and develop a new type of MMORPG.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/mmos-are-a-breath-of-fresh-air

MMORPGs Are All the Same

I’m tired of getting excited about an MMORPG and after playing it for a couple hours realizing that it’s the same thing as every other free MMORPG out there. It’s as if every single game runs off the same system, but each game has its own character models, classes and setting. Other than those three things, almost every game plays the same way. I’d love to see developers try and innovate rather than using the same rehashed themes and systems. Why not try changing the way uses gain skills or the way players can gain attributes rather than leveling up?

One major complaint I have is that almost every MMORPG has the same slate of character classes. The least developers can do is invent a few classes rather than using the same rehashed variations of Warrior, Mage, Priest, Thief and Archer. I’m sorry, renaming the classes doesn’t count as creating a new class. You can go ahead and call a warrior a fighter, barbarian, berserker, swordsman, knight, or mercenary, but it’s still a warrior. It can’t be that difficult to create different classes. Even combining two or more classes to make a hybrid would be unique. Take a “pirate” class for example. They can be a hybrid swordsman and a marksman with swords/pistols. Most MMORPGs also never utilize the necromancer class or any class that relies on summoning pets, which would be a welcomed addition to the usual slate of classes.

Another feature I’ve seen overused is the standard quest system. How many times have you been presented with a quest that says “Go outside town and kill 10 scorpions “ or a quest that sounds a bit like this, “Take this note and give it to Joe who is standing 15 feet away from me”. I mean come on! I’m not saying the developers should scrap the kill quests, but I’d love to see some variation! MapleStory actually did a remarkable job with its quest system. The game introduced platforming quests to the MMORPG genre. Players actually had to master jumping through a map while avoiding obstacles in their goal to reach the end of the map. Sure this wasn’t exactly a revolutionary concept, but it’s definitely a welcomed change from the usual quests you’ll run into in an MMORPG, and it’s actually fun. No matter how you look at it, killing 10 scorpions for the local butcher shop isn’t fun.

I’m also tired of seeing the leveling system in 99.9% of MMORPGs. Why are developers so afraid of breaking away from the norm? Sure it’s easier to use an already established system, but players definitely want to try new things. I for one would give ANY game a shot if it looked unique to me in some way, even if the game was pay to play, but even pay to play games lack uniqueness. The only game I see in the pay to play market that seems at all unique is Eve online, and I congratulate the people over at CCP [the developers of Eve Online] for taking a chance and avoiding the entire leveling system and focusing rather on a skill system. I’m not at al claiming that games with a leveling system are bad, as if the system is very well polished and balanced it can still be fun, but I’d love to trying something new.

Lastly, I’m tired of seeing the fantasy genre over used. I’ve already written about this, so i’ll keep this short. I’d love to see developers try out new genres. The Sci-fi theme definitely hasn’t been fully utilized yet, as there really aren’t any free MMORPGs that have a large community yet that are sci-fi themed. One game Luckily, there are companies out there that are trying to innovate. Gravity for example, has released Requiem: Bloodymare which labels itself as a “horror game”. Although Requiem feels a bit like fantasy, I’d like to congratulate Gravity for at least trying something new, and would like to encourage all game developers to try something new for a change.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/mmorpgs-are-all-the-same

It's Good for a free MMORPG

The Free MMORPG market is undoubtedly growing at an incredible pace and there are easily over 100 free MMORPGs on the market today. For a free MMORPG, games can no longer be “good for a free game”, but rather genuinely good for the game to succeed. Back when free to play (F2P) games were relatively new, games could be mediocre and still be wildly successful, as they were free. When F2P games first began to come out, players excused developers for slow bug fixes and unbalanced game play, as they weren’t paying anything for the game and there weren’t any other free MMORPGs to play.

Today, for a free MMORPG to be successful it has to be nearly flawless. With intense competition from other established games and new MMORPGs coming out each and every day, developers have to constantly fix bugs and add new content to keep players hooked. If a developer is too slow to fix an exploit or inconsistent with content updates, odds are players will jump ship and shift to a new game. Searching for “Free online MMORPG” on Google today yields over 600,000 results, making alternatives to a bad MMORPG abundant

The massive amounts of F2P MMORPGs on the market today are also pressuring pay to play (P2P) games to either offer more content to their players or make their game free. Games like Archlord, Anarchy Online, Shadowbane, Rf Online and so many other games became free to play from pay to play. Rose Online, a long time pay to play MMORPG, has recently announced plans to drop their subscription based business model and make the game free to play. The games that remain pay to play have an enormous amount of pressure on them, as if they don’t constantly update their game, players may quit to play one of the many free MMORPGs out there.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/it’s-good-for-a-free-mmorpg

MMORPG or just MMOG?

MMORPGs today lack any sense of role playing and story. I remember when I first started playing Everquest, I felt as if I was thrown into an actual world, as NPCs actually interacted with you. I remember when I walked down the streets of Qeynos, a town in EverQuest, one day I heard two guards discussing the politics of the town, and I heard another guard arguing with another NPC. If you walked around town long enough you would learn a lot about what was going on in the town, in terms of story which was actually really interesting.

One particular quest I remember doing was trying to eliminate the corrupt guards in Qeynos. The quest was assigned by one of the guard captains who knew there was corruption amongst the ranks of the guards and would reward you for finding and killing the guards that were corrupt. Players could identify corrupt guards by right clicking a random guard and checking your particular standing with that guard’s faction. Corrupt guards would view you “Dubiously” while regular guards would look at you “indifferently or amiably”. Finding low ranking corrupt guards and killing them was easy, but every time you killed a corrupt guard your standing with their faction would decrease. Upon completing the Quest the guards went from looking at my character “Dubiously” to attacking my character on sight. Walking around town with half of the town’s guards attacking you was no fun at all, but it added another sense of game play to EverQuest, as players had to manage their faction standing with everyone. I still remember the name of the leader of the corrupt Guards, Lieutenant Dagarok. If you had low standing with the corrupt guards he would run up to you and one shot you.

EverQuest definitely had the best faction system. Everything you did in the game impacted your standing with one group or another. Whether you killed a monster or completed a quest, odds are it will benefit your standing with one faction and hurt your standing with another. I’ve played World of Warcraft, and that game’s faction system isn’t even comparable to EverQuest’s. Everquest simply felt like an actual world where what you did in the game affected how other NPCs treated you. I’m not claiming that EverQuest was the best game of all time; the game had its fair share of flaws, but definitely has the best reputation system of any pay to play or free MMORPG.

I always wonder what great looking MMORPG games like Sword of the New World and Perfect World would be like if they had a better story / more player interaction with the game world. Games like Archlord and Luminary: Rise of The Goonzu are definitely taking steps in the right direction with an in game political system, but I’d love to see other MMORPG games create similar systems. In Goonzu players can elect players into local town positions and can even elect a leader on the national level who has a great deal of influence over the entire game. These systems aren’t perfect yet, but they definitely add another layer of game play to MMO games.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/mmorpg-or-just-mmog

Free MMORPGs are way too similar.

Every time I download and play through a new free MMORPG I usually spot a few similarities in that particular game that I’ve seen in other games, which is perfectly normal. I actually prefer that games borrow successful features from other games, but when a game looks almost identical to another game, there is definitely something wrong. MMO developers are definitely getting lazier and lazier and are simply looking to older games for inspiration rather than trying to be creative on their own.
The single best scenario of a game copying another is the case with MapleStory and Ghost Online. Before I explain the similarities, I’d rather show you a screenshot first.

Maple Story

Ghost Online

The games look almost identical, and they play almost identically as well. Ghost Online is a shameless knock off of MapleStory. Although difficult to see, the maps in both games are 100% identical. Players on the map for both games are marked by red rectangles. I’m not going to say that Ghost Online is a horrible game, as then I would be condemning MapleStory as a bad game, which it isn’t. Both games are actually pretty fun to play, but MapleStory is hands down the superior game.

One company, TQ Digital, is notorious for their lack of creativity. Every single one of their games play just like every other game they have. Crazy Tao for example is a clone of EuDemons, but with cartoony graphics. And by clone, I do mean clone. Both games are 100% the same game, just with different graphics. Don’t believe me? Please try it.

There are plenty of other games that are way too similar to other games; like Secret of the Solstice which copies Ragnarok Online and Combat Arms which is very similar to WolfTeam minus the wolves. I’m not saying these are all bad games, they’re not, but Developers, please stop copying each other and work on new ideas.

MMORPG Translations Suck!

I’ve played countless free MMORPG games and I’ve noticed that almost every single one has something in common; garbage translations. Free MMORPGs released in the United States and Europe avoid this problem but it’s upsetting that so many good MMORPGs are plagued with poor translations. Games like Holic Online and RF Online would be a lot more fun in they had better translations, as both games try to incorporate some sort of plot within the game, but the broken English makes users want to skip it. When I played Holic Online, I would find myself trying to decipher the NPC dialogue, as it was so poorly worded.

The single best example of a game with poor translations is Magic World Online. There are so many things that got lost in translation that I don’t know where to begin. Two of the final job advancements for a Magician are called “Dragonbaking Master” and “Freezing Uranus”. What in the world is a Dragon Baking master? Is it supposed to be some sort of chef that specializes is preparing dragons? I can’t remotely fathom how that class title could at all be intimidating or even sensible. I’m not even going to start with “Freezing Uranus”. If you go ahead and pick “Freezing Uranus” you’re going to be ripped on by both your friends and everyone in the game. I’m not even joking; these are two different job advancements from Magic World Online.

The fun doesn’t stop with the classes in Magic World Online; the game also has some ridiculous quest dialogue. The game definitely has the most absurd dialogue I’ve seen in any other game.
Actual Quest Dialogue:
NPC Name: Mysterious Beggar

Let me get this straight. This BEGGAR is offering to trade me a “GOD’S created stone” for a piece of fried chicken? How on Earth did a beggar manage to get his hands on a gem created by god? If this guy can find a God’s Gem, he shouldn’t have too much trouble selling it and buying his own fried chicken! Couldn’t the developers have spent an extra minute and rewrite the quest dialogue so it doesn’t sound so absurd? They should have just called the gems something like “attack stones” or something else that wouldn’t make the quest dialogue sound so silly. Please publishers, if you’re going to spend millions bringing a game to the United States, please don’t cheapen out on the game’s translations!

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/mmorpg-translations-suck

Top 5 Free MMOs with the Best graphics

5. Holic Online
Holic Online just barely made it on this list. The game has absolutely gorgeous 3D anime inspired graphics. Holic Online definitely blows away every other “cartoony” game in terms of graphics. The only other “cartoony” game that can almost hold its own against Holic Online is Dream of Mirror Online, but Holic Online still gets the #5 spot on this list.

4. Sword of the New World
Sword of the New World is probably one of the most visually impressive games out there and even more noteworthy is the game’s soundtrack. Sword of the New World has a completely original and remarkable soundtrack that’ll keep you entertained while grinding. The game also has incredibly unique game play where players get to control up to three different characters at once.

3. Project Torque
Project Torque probably has the best graphics for any MMO in the sports genre. Everything from the game’s environments to the vehicles are stunning. Aside from graphics, Project Torque is a solid racing game, and a must play for gamers that are tired of all the cartoony racing games out there.

2. Rohan
Aside from having incredible visuals, Rohan Online has a large community and balanced game play. Rohan is one of the best free MMOs to be released in a long while, so if you haven’t played it, I recommend you at least check it out.

1. Perfect World
Perfect World definitely has some of the best graphics I’ve seen in a long time and even holds its own against some of the best looking pay to play MMORPGs. Everything from the game’s character models to the water is beautifully rendered. If you haven’t played Perfect World yet, I strongly recommend that you do, as the game is definitely one of the best free MMORPGs released to date.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/top-five-graphically-impressive-free-mmos

More Character Classes Please!

Every time I download a new MMORPG game, I pray that the game has a large selection of classes, as I’m tired of playing games that only have 3-4 different classes. The more classes a game has, the more unique each person is in the game world, as if there are only three classes, a third of the game’s population is the same class you are. Aside from adding individuality, a game with a large selection of classes also has a lot of replay value. If I enjoyed an MMORPG game, but got tired of it after some time, odds are I’ll go back and create a new character and choose a class I haven’t played yet to experience the game in a new way.

One game with very few playable classes is definitely Eudemons. Eudemons currently has three playable classes; Warrior, Mage and Paladin. The third class, paladin, was actually just released within the last month or so, so the game had only two classes for most of it’s existence. Having two classes wouldn’t be a problem if the game has unique character development and growth, but unfortunately Eudemons lacks any sense of individuality, if you play a mage every other mage in the game will be almost exactly like you. To be fair, Eudemons isn’t a terrible game. The game is unique in the sense that it has incredibly fast paced leveling and a unique pet system. TQ Digital, the company Behind Eudemons is notorious for churning out unoriginal clones of their older games with revamped graphics. Crazy Tao, for example, is another game made by the same company as Eudemons and for all intensive purposes is the same game as Eudemons, but with more anime graphics.

If adding more classes to a game is too difficult, I urge developers to at least add more “job advancements” to their games. When I’m playing an MMO I don’t want a third of the entire game’s population to be exactly like me. One game that had an excellent job advancement system is Magic World Online. Although the game only had four playable classes, the game more than made up for it by having four job advancements. I’m not claiming that the game with the most playable classes is the best game out there, but having more classes in a game definitely adds to the game’s enjoyment and replay value.

Magic World Online’s Job Advancement system:

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/more-character-classes-please

No more Fantasy MMORPGs Please!

Developers need to start turning on their creativity switches and start to move away from the generic fantasy MMO theme. There’s nothing wrong with fantasy games, but that particular market is so incredibly saturated now. As an avid MMORPG gamer I want to see new games that aren’t fantasy themed. Believe me; I’ve slain enough Orcs for two lifetimes. Games like Neosteam and Age of Armor are both breaths of fresh air in the realm of MMORPGs. I’m not claiming that Neosteam and Age of Armor are great games, but they’re at least something different.

Neosteam is a “steampunk” themed MMORPG. Steampunk may be a genre you haven’t heard of before, but in simple terms, it means a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, usually featuring large steam powered buildings / robots. Neosteam isn’t exactly a unique concept, as it plays like every other MMORPG, but the game does change the environment around, and that’s definitely a welcomed change. Another interesting game that I’ve recently played was RF Online. The game marketed itself as a sci-fi game, but for all intensive purposes it played just like every other fantasy MMORPG, but with a few distinctions; most notably, the game’s environment. The sci-fi environment and sci-fi weaponry was a welcomed change, even if the game’s core mechanics were almost identical to every other MMORPG.

Another non fantasy mmorpg game which I found to be interesting is Age of Armor. The game actually looks and feels like a drastic change from your average fantasy MMORPG. You actually get to kill space aliens with guns and huge robots. Unlike RF Online, all the environments and weaponry in Age of Armor are sci-fi themed. Once again, Age of Armor doesn’t reinvent MMORPG genre, but the environments are different than your average MMORPG game. The reason I actually went out and downloaded Age of Armor was because the game was sci-fi themed. I simply wanted to try a genre other than fantasy.

Unfortunately, with the massive success of World of Warcraft, developers will continue to churn out fantasy titles, as they want to stick with a model that has worked in the past, and the fantasy genre has been the most successful. I would however, like to see developers get a bit more creative, as nearly every fantasy environment looks identical these days. I’m not claiming that fantasy games aren’t good, but I would like to see some new non-fantasy games released.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/no-more-fantasy-mmorpgs-please

Are MMORPGs becoming too accommodating?

In order to compete in the rapidly growing MMORPG market, developers are definitely trying out new things. When I first started playing MMO games back in 1999, games like Ultima Online and Everquest offered no tutorials at all, and players had to figure out what to do. Games are becoming more and more user friendly and now involve more in-depth tutorials than ever before. Games like Eve Online and MapleStory both offer lengthy tutorials, the Eve Online tutorial being just about an hour long. In order to try something new, Martial Heroes and Magic World Online both decided to try and make their game as convenient as possible for players.

Martial Heroes, a 3D MMORPG set in the ancient orient, is probably one of the most accommodating MMORPGs on the market. The game’s developers tried their best to make sure players start off with enough equipment and supplies to enjoy the game. Unfortunately, the developers over did it. All new characters in Martial Heroes start off with 1,000 HP & MP potions, all the skill books they’ll need for the first few levels, a mount and a set of free equipment. There’s nothing wrong with starting new players off with some basic equipment and a handful of potions, but it’s clear that the developers went overboard with handouts. Being convenient is one thing, but giving new players everything they could possibly need takes away any challenge an MMORPG has and the fun of having to save up for an awesome new sword.

Magic World Online actually makes itself even more convenient than Martial Heroes. The game has a built in “bot” which actually plays the game for you. The “bot” doesn’t just grind, it loots, uses potions, and even runs away when your HP is low. If you do happen to die in Magic World Online while using the game’s “bot”, have no fear, as the “bot” will run all the way back to the place where you died, and resume grinding for you. Players can easily configure the “bot” to use skills and spells as well, and to even run back to town and sell the loot you gather while grinding. If you don’t like grinding you may be thinking that this is an awesome idea, but it’s not. You’ll never actually play Magic World Online, as the game plays itself. It’s sort of like Progress Quest, but with graphics.

Source:
http://mmohub.org/2008/are-mmorpgs-becoming-too-accommodating

Have MMORPGs perfected cloning or does character creation suck?

The single least developed component of most MMORPGs is character customization. When I enter the character creation screen, I’m constantly disappointed with the options I’m presented with. Most games usually let me change my face or hair, but that’s about the extent of customization in those games. I don’t understand at all why developers haven’t expanded on this feature. Is it too much to ask for to look unique in an MMORPG world? It’s upsetting to see everyone running around looking EXACTLY like my character, as it takes away from the uniqueness of my character. Even games like World of Warcraft have extremely limited character customization, as players can only change their skin color, face, hair style, hair color and facial hair. The two games I’ll analyze today are WYD Global and Perfect World.

The game I’ve found with the absolute least character customization is WYD Global. The game isn’t bad for a free MMORPG, and is actually pretty enjoyable, but has absolutely NO character customization. Upon entering the character creation screen in WYD Global, you’ll be presented with four different classes, each standing on the screen. Upon selecting which class you want to be, you’ll be presented with a text box to enter your character’s name. You can’t change your character’s gender. What in the world were the developers of this game thinking? Would it have been so much extra work to allow players to at least be able to change their gender? The only female characters in this game are mages, which are oddly called “foemas” in WYD Global. Don’t think the game makes up for the lack of character customization with a wide variety of classes, as there are only four. Games aren’t like Gauntlet legends anymore, players like character customization!

The game with the best character customization of all time is definitely Perfect World. I bet you didn’t expect me to name a free to play game, but surprisingly Perfect World is indeed free to play. The game is immensely popular in China, and has only been recently licensed to Cubinet, a Malaysian publisher. Luckily, English is a common language in Malaysia, so the game is open to US players. Upon making your character in this game, you’ll be blown away with the options you’ll be presented with. Players can everything about their character from nose length to the distance between your eye brows. Unlike most MMO games where each customizable component of your character has only a few different styles, Perfect World has so many options. For skin color and hair color, players can choose almost any color from a color grid. The game has nearly limitless options for customization, and if you spend some time customizing your character, odds are you’ll never see someone that looks exactly like you. You can customize just about ANYTING you can think of in Perfect World, and yes, females can indeed make their breasts bigger. Just so you folks understand the extent of which you can customize your character in Perfect World, I’m going to show you a screenshot of my character. I guarantee you won’t be able to show me another game that lets you do this. Keep in mind, I tried to make my character look as obscure as possible to demonstrate the extent of Perfect World’s customization; there are plenty of options to make your character look normal.

My Perfect World Character

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/have-mmorpgs-perfected-cloning-or-does-character-creation-suck

Top 5 MUST have features in MMORPGs

With the explosive growth of the MMORPG market, it’s upsetting to realize that a lot of MMORPGs are lacking simple features that would greatly enhance the enjoyment of that particular game. New games are coming out almost every week and developers still exclude some obvious must have features. Developers please take note of these features and try and include them in future projects. The top five must have features in MMORPG games are as follows:

5. In game messenger.
This is one feature that has been becoming more and more popular in newer games today, but plenty of games still don’t have it. Even World of Warcraft, one of the most popular MMORPGs on the market, lacks an in game messenger system. One can easily argue that using the game’s regular chat system would be just as effective as implementing a messenger, but when chat becomes cluttered with messages and advertisements to sell equipment, it can become hard to track what someone just sent to you. Free games like Fly for Fun and Gunbound both include an extremely functional messenger.

4. Regularly updated Content
What better way to keep players hooked to a game? All MMO games need new content every so often; otherwise players will get bored after they do everything the game has to offer. The best example of a game that updates regularly with new content is Eve Online. CCP, the game’s developers, try and release a free new expansion pack every year. World of Warcraft has also been on top of this, as they’re expected to release Wrath of the Lich King soon, but it would have been much better for players if the new content was free, as players who don’t buy the expansion would be at a disadvantage.

3. PvP
Too many games today, mostly free ones, don’t have a PvP system. For a lot of players, the only real motivation to “grind” through the games content is to become the best player in the game, and the best way to prove you’re the best is to be able to beat everyone else in a fight. Implementing a PvP system can also keep players from getting bored of a game. Once you hit the level cap in a game, and the game doesn’t have PvP, there really isn’t anything left to do.

2. A Player driven economy
The most important aspect of an MMORPG community for me is the game’s economy. What’s the point of being rich in a game if you can’t buy anything with the game’s currency? The best example of a good player driven economy is Goonzu: Rise of the Luminary. In Goonzu, in order to purchase new equipment, even low level equipment, you would have to buy it from another player. Almost everything from crafting materials to quest items would have to be purchased the game’s auction house. If you wanted to sell your loot after a successful hunt, you wouldn’t go to the local NPC, but would have to sell it to another player through the game’s market place. The price of every item in the game is determined by actual market forces of supply and demand, as the game’s few NPCs only sell very basic items and pay nearly nothing for all items sold to them, no matter how powerful the item, the NPC will only pay pennies.

1. An Auction House
Every MMORPG has some sort of in game trading system, so why not make the trading and commerce almost infinitely better by including an auction house system where players can put up their items for sale and go do something else, rather than standing around for hours at a time trying to sell their wares. The game most notorious for a sloppy trading environment is MapleStory. [See below]. It’s nearly impossible to try and sell your rare items in MapleStory, as players won’t even get a chance to see you! The trading area is packed. An auction house would also be an excellent way to eliminate trading fraud and scamming.

Look what happens when an MMORPG doesn’t have an Auction House:

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/top-5-must-have-features-in-an-mmorpg

MMO Questing

Most MMORPG games today offer an alternative way to gain experience other than grinding; questing. The problem with questing in MMORPGs is the lack of creativity and effort put forth by the developers. Almost every MMORPG has the standard “Go outside town and kill X amount of Y Monsters”. Replace X with a quantity and Y with a type of monster. Another very common quest you’ll find in most MMORPGs is the “Take this letter and hand it to the guy standing next to me”. Why do quests have to be so dull? There are only two MMORPGs I know that actually have a well thought out questing system; World of Warcraft and Maplestory.

It’s no surprise that World of Warcraft actually has a well designed and interesting quest system, as the game does has 10 million subscribers worldwide. The game’s quest dialogue was always very well written and the quests weren’t always go outside town and kill some monsters. Completing a chain quest also made you feel like you accomplished something and each step along the way, you were fed bits of information that kept you interested in the quest. When I first completed the Defias Brotherhood quest line In World of Warcraft It actually felt like I was in the game, as the quest actually kept me engaged with the game.

Maplestory also has a surprisingly good quest system. The quests in MapleStory aren’t good because they’re well written or tell an epic tale, but they’re incredibly fun because they’re so unique. Players can get together and participate in party quests where players get to work together to solve puzzles and defeat monsters. The puzzles are all actually very unique, as players get to actually do something other than grinding. MapleStory also has a series of incredible platforming quests where you’ll have to try to get to the end of a stage by jumping on platforms while dodging electricity and other obstacles. MapleStory also has all the “Go out and kill X of Y monster” type quests, but the fact that the game actually did some unique was definitely a welcomed change.

I’m looking forward to seeing what developers come up with next as far as questing goes. I’m a bit disappointed that the latest MMO games haven’t created anything new, as it seems like developers are too scared to try something new.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/mmo-questing

MMORPGs: The Leveling System

Almost every Mmorpg today, free to play or pay to play, has the same system of advancement, and that’s the leveling system. There are so many things wrong with the leveling system that I’m surprised it’s still the standard today. Games like Eve Online and Ultima Online both have unique systems based on skill gain rather than simply “leveling up” to get stronger. Players instead focus on training specific skills and become more proficient at what they character does, rather than just *Ding* I’m stronger now.

The leveling system unbalances dueling and PvP. If you’re a level 30 warrior, theres no way in hell you’re going to beat a level 45 player, even if you have superior equipment, as you probably won’t even hit them, as the level difference tilts the outcome of the fight on the higher level player almost all of the time. Under the standard Mmorpg leveling system, there is no motivation for lower level players to participate in PvP as they will always get destroyed by higher level players. In World of Warcraft, higher level players are free to slaughter lower level players anywhere in the game, which can get frustrating. There is nothing wrong with stronger players killing weaker players, but when that weaker play has absolutely no possible way to defend himself it can ruin the game.

The leveling system promotes grinding. Players will always want to reach the highest possible level and will grind for hundreds of hours to do so, and grinding isn’t fun. Players have the mentality that once they become stronger and reach maximum level they’ll start to have more fun. It’s like working for hundreds of hours with the goal of having fun in the future. Games like MapleStory and Perfect World are notorious for this kind of game play, where players are disillusioned to believe that once they are higher level, they’ll have more fun. The leveling system also allows developers to introduce cheap new additions to their games like “increased level cap” or “faster experience days” rather than actual new content.

Two games that totally reinvented player advancement in MMOs are Eve Online and Ultima Online. Both games have absolutely no leveling. In order to progress in Eve Online, players have to select a skill in order to train and training that particular skill will take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. This sort of progression system allows for players to be able to fully customize and control their character growth, as they’re selecting what to become proficient with, rather than the game controlling their growth. Since players simply can’t be good at everything in Eve Online, they usually choose to specialize in certain skills, but the fact that there are thousands of ways to build your character’s skills makes Eve Online a unique gaming experience. There Is an obvious drawback to this system though, as players who started playing when the game was first released simply have more skills trained than people starting the game today.

Players in Ultima Online advanced by actually using the skills they wanted to become proficient in. Players that wanted to become swordsmen would have to physically equip a sword and start killing monsters with a sword weapon equipped. Players wouldn’t advance based on how many monsters they killed, but rather how many times used their sword in combat. The game had over 30 different skills, all of which could be used by anyone in the game. The game did have a skill cap of “700” which meant that players could only have a total of 700 skill points and Each skill could be improved up to a maximum of 100. This system allowed players to be 100% in control of their characters development. If you wanted to have 50 of skill X and 70 of skill y and 25 of skill z you had the freedom to do so. There were almost infinite different ways to grow your character. Another positive aspect about Ultima Online’s skill system was that players could at any time decide to forget a particular skill and work on another one, which allowed players to reshape their characters from a warrior to a blacksmith at anytime. This sort of character development led to the birth of hybrid classes like “Tank Mage” where players would advance a mixture of both warrior skills and magician skills.

Unfortunately, developers today have all almost abandoned the idea of non level based progression. Since the wild success of World of Warcraft, developers will most likely try and copy the success that World of Warcraft. Developers simply don’t want to risk trying to reinvent a system that has been working for years.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/mmorpgs-the-leveling-system

MMO Game or MMO Grind?

Mmorpg games today require way too much grinding. This isn’t a new trend, as the leveling system has been with us since the dawn of the online games, but I’m surprised that developers haven’t found a new way to allow players to advance. The most enjoyable aspects of MMORPG games aren’t killing rabbits and snakes, but rather raiding with friends and participating in PvP. When was the last time you heard your friend tell you the time he killed orcs for six hours straight and had a blast? Not often I hope. Some games actually deal with the grind a lot better than other, as World of Warcraft actually had interesting quests which were also a great source of experience, but games like MapleStory were all out grind fest with nothing else to do but grind.

When I quested and grinded my way to level 60 in World of Warcraft [Pre Burning Crusade] it really didn’t feel like a chore, as I was constantly questing or instancing with friends. World of Warcraft actually handled the leveling system very well, as there were alternatives to grinding. I did however at times find myself grinding for hours at a time after I finished all the quests I could find. These weren’t fun times, but I kept telling myself that once I hit level 60, I’d be have more fun, and I did. The problem was getting to 60.

MapleStory, a free Korean Mmorpg, is the epitome of grind. The only way to level up is to grind, and unlike World of Warcraft where you can reach maximum level in a month or so of casual play, it’ll take well over six months of hard core playing to reach level 100, which is only half way to the game’s level cap. Another problem in MapleStory was that combat wasn’t at all interesting, but rather an absolute chore. It wasn’t time efficient to kill monsters in MapleStory that didn’t die in single hit, as you could get significantly more experience one hitting lower level monsters than two hitting higher level monsters. In order to level up once at level 60 or so, you’d have to slaughter 7,000 monsters, which can be extremely time consuming and definitely not fun, as it wouldn’t be at all challenging.

Games like Fly for Fun and Hero Online also have similar experience models where killing higher level monsters isn’t as efficient as slaughtering lower level monsters en masse. Another problem with these games are that the experience needed to level up increases exponentially as you level up, which makes the grinding even more of a chore. I’m hoping that one day developers find a new way for players to advance and spend more time actually playing the game, rather than grinding to a high enough level to be able to enjoy the game.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/mmo-game-or-mmo-grind

Evolution of PvP in MMorpgs

Player versus player (PvP) competition has been an essential part of almost every western MMORPG released. Although PvP isn’t as popular in Asian MMORPG games it does exist in games like 9Dragons and Perfect World. Fighting another player is always more interesting than fighting monsters or even fighting a boss, as there is a distinct sense of challenge; a sense of competition, as the victor would determine who the better player is.

Ultima Online, the first popular MMORPG had an open PvP environment where anyone can participate in PvP no matter where they were. No need to request a duel or teleport off into a special “zone” designated for fighting. You were able to fight almost anywhere you wanted to. The game’s PvP was also unique, as the game’s PvP combat relied entirely on skill rather than whoever had the best items. The difference between the best weapon in the game and the worst was almost negligible, which created an even playing field for everyone. The drawback to Ultima Online’s balanced PvP system is the game’s boring PvE experience, where monsters were plagued with stupid artificial intelligence and posed no threat even to the weakest players.

Everquest was the second popular MMORPG released. Unlike Ultima Online, in order to fight someone you had to request a fight with them which was a big step backward for fans of player verses player combat. In order to attract new players who preferred PvP, Everquest created a special server designated as a “PvP” server where players could attack each other almost anywhere in the game world. PvP duels and combat never became quite as popular in Everquest as it did in Ultima Online as the game wasn’t designed for balanced PvP combat, as Everquest didn’t impose level restrictions on items, which led to the player with the best equipment to usually win the fight.

Dark Age of Camelot, a game which was rumored to be the “Everquest killer” introduced a unique PvP system called “Realm vs Realm (RvR)” combat. Players would select a faction upon creating their character and fight to control strategic outposts in a designated “PvP zone”. Each realm, or faction, fought to gain control of the game’s relics. Each relic provided an in game stat bonus for the entire realm’s population if they managed to gain control of that particular relic. Dark Age of Camelot was also the first that successfully fused siege weaponry with PvP combat. Realms would have to use catapults and rams to knock down the walls of enemy outposts in order to steal that particular faction’s relics.

Today’s MMORPG games offer a very limited PvP experience as newer games aren’t being designed with PvP in mind, but are rather being tossed into the mix to simply add another feature. Even World of Warcraft, the most popular MMORPG on the market has a very limited PvP system. In order to participate in PvP combat on regular servers, players have to wait in line to be teleported to a special combat zone called a “battleground” where skill means nothing, as there are simply too many players in a single “battleground” at once for any single player to have a strong impact on the fight’s result. Even on “PvP servers” World of Warcraft is lacking. Duels and fights are almost always determined by whoever has the best gear. I’m still waiting for a game that has both a balanced PvP system and an equally fun PvE system.

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/the-evolution-of-pvp

Player Housing, Where is it?

There can be no denying that the MMORPG genre has made great strides over the past decade. Games like Rohan: Blood Feud and Perfect World have graphics that blow Ultima Online and Asheron’s Call out of the water. But both those older games had something that few games released today days do: Player Housing.

Some of my best memories during the dawn of the MMORPG genre were spent alone inside my own dwelling. Hours could be spent decorating and designing a large house. These houses not only served as a distraction but often doubled as live event locations. For example, the head quarters of a powerful guild in Ultima Online would serve as a PvP hot-spot. Newer games like World of Warcraft have had to bypass these player generated action zones with artificial PvP zones like the Battlegrounds and the Arena. Now don’t get me wrong, both of those are great features in WoW but they do have a structured feel to them. I prefer my virtual worlds to be player driven.

Some games have implemented player housing in a lousy manner. For a good example of this look no further than Dark Age of Camelot. Rather than making houses a geographic feature of the main land, entire new zones were created to act as house parks. Expensive monthly rents were attached to house ownership which made them impractical to anyone outside a major guild.

With the success that World of Warcraft has enjoyed, there doesn’t seem to be much demand for playing housing. But with the MMO market growing so fast, there must be a few developers willingly to experiment with this long neglected feature. I would like to point out that a recently released 2D free to play game called Wonderland Online has a very basic housing system. Each player can pitch a tent which can then be decorated. The tent will appear in the game world and other players may enter if the owner permits.

Hopefully we’ll see more in depth housing features in the MMORPGs of the future. How soon and to what extent housing is implemented in tomorrows games depends on how much value we put on it. Please share your thoughts on player housing in MMORPGs!

Source:

http://mmohub.org/2008/player-housing-where-is-it

The Age of Free Online Gaming

The age of free online gaming is now upon us. It is remarkable how much progress has been made in the free online gaming market in the past five or so years. Earlier this decade when people heard “free game” horrible images of freeware games made by college kids in their spare time came to mind, games that looked like early 1980s PC RPG betas. No longer. Today there are literally dozens of free to play games in almost every genre.

Maple Story alone, a free to play 2D MMORPG released in 2003, now boasts over 56 million accounts worldwide¹. Just in case you’re wondering, that blows World of Warcraft with its 10 million users out of the water. While MMORPGs are the most common genre of free gaming, there are free games in every field. Shot Online and Albatross18 are both free golfing games with a level of depth rarely found in the retail golfing market. Games like GunZ: The Duel, Wolf Team, War Rock, and Soldier Front offer FPS experiences ranging from frag fests to tactical team coordinated matches. Its difficult to think of a genre that isn’t covered. There are several excellent free racing games such as the simple yet realistic racer Project Torque. If you want something more immersing, look no further than the hybrid Racing/RPG game Drift City which has several fully explorable cities filled with side missions and places to explore with graphics similar to the retail Grand Theft Auto games. If you like to mix rocket launchers with your racers, the free market delivers; Upshift Strikeracer is all about rockets, mines, and other nasty weapons to blow the other players out of the race. Even traditional sports are covered. Freestyle Street Basketball is a simple yet addictive game where each match lasts five minutes, perfect for the casual player. If you’re a soccer fan than try Kicks Online.

I’ve mentioned only a fraction of the free to play games available and it almost feels like a crime to have left out such great games as Fly For Fun, Exteel, Gunbound, and the dozens of other games now accessible by anyone with an Internet connection. Now, dear reader, you must be convinced that we are now entering the age of free gaming, but I have one more shock for you. This is only the beginning. Even as I write this there are dozens of top quality games in beta testing either here in America or in Japan and Korea. Beautiful games like Neosteam and a Gundam MMO are in the works. The list of free online games available and under construction is in the hundreds. Many former pay to play games have been liberated from their monthly fees. Archlord, RF Online, Savage, Anarchy Online, and Shadow Bane are now available to the masses for free. Surely this is a trend that will continue.

The next time you consider pulling out the credit card to activate a subscription or purchase a game online, think twice and give a free to play game a chance. You might be surprised by what you find. If you’re looking for a resource site to read a bit about the best free games out there, I’d recommend MMOHub

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_story#Revenue_and_game_population

Original on:
http://mmohub.org/2008/the-age-of-free-online-gaming

Graphics: Cartoony or Realistic

There are two fundamental graphic styles in most MMORPG games and they are Realistic and Cartoony. Some of the most popular free to play games today are anime inspired and thus fit into the cartoony model. Games like Maple Story and Scions of Fate have millions of players worldwide and one of their most attractive features is their graphic style. Even popular Western pay to play games like World of Warcraft benefit from the cartoony style.


Realistic graphics are generally pursued by Western developers though they are becoming more common in Asia too. Voyage Century is a clear example of Asian developers taking an interest in realistic graphic styles. Published by IGG, Voyage Century has markedly different graphics than other more traditionally Asian IGG games such as Zu Online and Tales of Pirates.

The FPS genre has long been dominated by realistic styled games. Shooters are considered to be on the leading edge in terms of graphical capabilities and it often takes other genres years to catch up. Even in the MMO field, games like War Rock, Soldier Front, and GunZ are all realistic styled. Recently, however, many developers have seen the wisdom of trying something new. A good example is the new game under development by DICE, Battlefield Heroes. Known for their historically themed Battlefield series, DICE has decided to offer a free to play, third person shooter with cartoony graphics that draw inspiration from Team Fortress 2.

As a personal preference, I tend to favor cartoony graphics. These games tend have lower system requirements yet can still look impressive. Most realistic games limit their audience by setting their system requirements too high which I feel is one of the reasons for the general decline of PC gaming in relation to consoles. My preference does change depending on what genre we’re talking about. For RTS games I like realistic graphics over cartoony graphics.

Original article on

http://mmohub.org/2008/graphics-cartoony-or-realistic

Gender Bending in MMORPGS!

Most MMORPGs, such as Maple Story, RF Online and many other others allow players to experience a fantasy world filled with Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, and many other exotic races. These games also allow players to choose which gender their avatars will assume. While Playing as non-human races is considered unremarkable, playing as the opposite gender (termed gender bending) has always been a divisive issue. Current surveys show that 85% of MMORPG players are male and that males are up to 5x more likely to gender bend than females. This means, on average, at least half of all female avatars in a virtual world are played by men.

There are some very practical reasons why a man would prefer to play a female character online. For instance, it is widely known that others players are much more generous with items and in game guidance to female characters. Females who play a male character give up this gender specific advantage, which likely explains the far lower female gender bending tendency. It has also been noted that in third person MMORPGS many men prefer to spend their game hours staring at the back of a slim female body rather than a bulky man’s. Many do not accept these utilitarian reasons alone as being the explanation for gender bending. Some suspect that there are darker and more psychological reasons why a man would dress in women’s garb, virtually speaking that is.

That a man would want to play a female character is often evidence enough for many in the online community to label someone a homosexual. But surprisingly, feminist organizations see gender bending as another sign of female oppression. In most virtual worlds, female characters are scarcely clad and are blessed with what we shall term “bountiful assets.” It is sexism on the men’s part to want to control these polished pleasure bots, or so the feminist argument goes. There is certainly some small minority of men who use female characters to approach other men online but doesn’t ultimate responsibility lie on the individual in defending himself against unsolicited advances online?

The issue has gone so far out of hand in some places that game publishers and governments decided they needed to step in. Recently in China Shanda Entertainment, a major developer of virtual worlds, issued a new rule that anyone wishing to create a female avatar must first prove their gender to the company via a webcam. Interestingly, women wishing to play a male character would not need to go through this procedure. Many players faced character deletion if their female avatars didn’t have a female face to defend them on the webcam. Not surprisingly, players wore wigs and put on make up to fool the developers into letting them keep their avatars. Shanda may of found the perfect way to reverse gender bending trends between the sexes - by putting additional barriers in front of male gender benders and encouraging female gender bending. (by forcing women to “prove” their sex) Soon China may have the first virtual world where half the men are women!

Original article on
http://mmohub.org/2008/gender-bending-in-mmorpgs

Buying and Selling Virtual Items in MMORPGs!

Usually we lose money by playing a MMORPG. We either pay a monthly subscription fee or have the option to purchase special items through a cash shop. But there are many who make money playing these games by selling in game currency or items for money in the real world. Today there are literally dozens of websites which are willing to purchase in game currency from players in order to resell it. Obviously by selling to a retailer, the player gets a lower price than if he were to sell it directly to another player, but the fact that so many sites exists makes the virtual market place much more reliable and liquid. It also shows how large the market as grown.

The virtual market has become so profitable that virtual sweatshops have sprung up in places like China where dozens of people are payed simply to farm virtual items in today’s most popular games such as World of Warcraft and Maple Story. Unfortunately, many of these “gold farmers”, as they are styled, use bots and other third party programs to automate the process. The industrialization of the process has made it almost impossible for the average player to make any money playing the game legitimately.But while players cannot compete with botting gold farmers, they can still make money by becoming traders. I personally made about $50 a day a few summers back playing Ultima Online. 90% of my time was spent at the bank of the capital city simply buying and selling rare items and powerful equipment.

While buying and selling virtual items is a reality in almost every major MMORPG, there are many players and developers who fiercely oppose it. Selling items or currency is technically illegal in every game but like any good black market, the virtual market is hard to follow or shut down. The argument against virtual trading is that it gives buyers an unfair advantage over those playing the game honestly. There can be no denying this, a player who pays $50 for a rare and powerful weapon does gain an advantage. But how does that necessarily spoil the game for other players? I personally enjoy facing foes that are better equipped then my self and in non PvP games, it doesn’t make much difference at all.

Different companies have tried different techniques to combat the selling for virtual goods. Sony has allowed it, but only if its done through their website while others have made the most powerful items “bind” to the player who picks them up, making it impossible to sell to others. Recently, Ebay which was one of the largest sites to buy and sell virtual goods on has bowed to pressure from game developers by banned all auctions involving the buying and selling of virtual goods in MMORPGs.

I personally have no problem with the buying or selling of virtual goods. I’ve sold tons of currency and items in Ultima Online throughout the past 8 or so years but never really purchased items for my own use. Even in games where I was neither a buyer or seller, I never felt cheated or at a disadvantage by players who did. What are your thoughts on this issue? Does selling virtual items to other players for money ruin the experience for everyone else? Should it be banned? Regulated by the publisher? Post your views below.