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ION 08 - discussions on MMOs

 
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BladeLakem
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2008 3:29 pm    Post subject: ION 08 - discussions on MMOs Reply with quote

ION 08 (an online gaming industry conference) has been going on lately and there is a lot of talk about what MMOs need to do. Some interesting stuff:

A quote from the summary of "Virtual Worlds for the Masses":
http:
Quote:
Right around here John busts into the conversation with an interesting mantra, "If content is King, context is Emperor." An example given is that laying bricks for no apparent reason is different than laying bricks to build a cathedral. While it's true that the people in Second Life who have found a sense of purpose receive the most enjoyment from the world, they're also the minority. Erik suggests that the mass market aren't all talented, creative geniuses or even incredibly driven to create and that in aiming for the mass market a developer has to create content for them to feel compelled to play. They're not going to want to do it themselves. An analogy would be that more people browse the internet looking for fun rather than building their own interactive web-based game to enjoy.



From the summary of "What can game developers learn from Web 2.0?
Quote:
Martin suggests a new mantra: "Embrace the Chaos" -- this requires a lot of letting go. His advice is to have faith that chaos is good for you, despite the lack of obvious guarantees. Whereas traditional programming is built on the principles of ACID (atomic, consistent, independent, durable), the web is built on the principles of BASE as introduced by Google (basically available, soft-state, eventually consistent). ACIDity creates trust but kills innovation, whereas BASE promotes innovation and still allows a certain level of trust. The trust comes in the "eventually consistent" part of the equation in which all your data coalesces -- and provided you can get your vendors to agree to this model you have a non-obvious guarantee of trust and you can successfully sacrifice the "good" point of the triangle.

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Moiety Jean
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2008 3:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Makes sense to me. I think Uru needed user-created content badly, because we're all greedy for it and Cyan can't possibly keep up... but without the central world that Cyan creates for us, we have no context for our own creations and everything feels disjointed and unsatisfying.
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Eleri
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 9:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think Ron (Randomos) was in on that conference. No, wait, that was a different one I think. I dunno!


Uru should never have been marketed as an MMO, really.
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BladeLakem
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I think it could have been. With a different philosophy attached.

Cyan used an ACID philosophy, it seems. If they'd taken the suggestion of embracing the web and the 2.0 mindset (which Uru as a concept and a community was perfectly set up for), then they could have been the genre leader that the fans expected. They wanted to make a world, and focused on making an online video game. If they'd focused on making a world that just happened to intersect with their video game, it would have had a better chance.

Interestingly enough, I think that conference was just a few blocks from where I work...
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Lord Chaos
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 2:56 pm    Post subject: Re: ION 08 - discussions on MMOs Reply with quote

From the summary of "What can game developers learn from Web 2.0?
Quote:
Martin suggests a new mantra: "Embrace the Chaos"...


Well, obviously! Smile
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Cycreim
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 6:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Haha yeah well that's pretty close to what a lot of people in the community have been saying since Uru went belly up again. And it sounds like there's yet a fair chance that Uru might go BASE, so I'm staying cautiously optimistic. Smile
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CuzinJohn
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cycreim wrote:
Haha yeah well that's pretty close to what a lot of people in the community have been saying since Uru went belly up again. And it sounds like there's yet a fair chance that Uru might go BASE, so I'm staying cautiously optimistic. Smile


Really? that's kinda cool...

All your BASE are belong to Uru!

Sorrry... it had to be said.

::ducks and covers::
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Moiety Jean
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

::fondly throws tomatoes at Cuzin::
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CuzinJohn
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are you fond of the tomatoes? or just fond of throwing them at me??

::duck::

NYEAH! Missed me! Betcha can't hit m::SPLAT::
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Moiety Jean
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

::smugly hefts tomato in one hand::
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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2008 7:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I ran away and cowered in fear, awestruck by your deft use of tomatoes...

...and of adverbs.

This concludes our derailment of this thread.
We now return you to the topic already in progress.
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Cycreim
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PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2008 1:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Talks continue, and it sounds like Rand, at least, is being very open-minded about the power they hand over to explorers.
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PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2008 2:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I read that! It's encouraging to at least know what Cyan would like, whether or not they are able to do as they like.
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janaba1
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PostPosted: Sat May 17, 2008 7:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, that sounds really encouraging, indeed!!! So, the worst that
could happen, as far as I've understood, would be another two years
of waiting for Uru's return... and meanwhile, there'll be quite an amount
of new ages in development and completion...

That's absolutely great!!! And Cyan is given more than enough time
for further engine and ages/storyline developments etc... That'd be
ok with me, I'm not in a hurry... Very Happy

What I love about Cyan/the Millers is, that over the course of all those
years, all those ups and downs, they remained true to themselves...
Whenever I ponder about that I'm very much impressed about their
courage, their perseverance and their loyalty to us and their visions...
Kudos! Kudos! Kudos, Cyan!!!

Really, I mean, what do all the others do? They provide the people
with whatever they want, whatever it might be... They're only concerned
(not all, but many Wink ) about numbers, scores, dollars/money etc...

Our Cyanists could easily change their course in every moment, telling
us "sorry, friends, thanks for your loyalty and your dedication in all of
those years... was a great time and experience, but we have to move
on and earn some more money... So, please don't be disappointed about
some changes to Uru, that many of you won't agree with, means a
significant alteration in the course and the structure of the storyline and
the whole presentation of the game with more action elements and also
violent elements involved etc...etc... "

But they don't. They remain true to themselves and their visions and us...
Thanks, guys... I love you... Keep the faith... We'll win in the end!!! Very Happy
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