Game talk

This is the catch-all category for stuff about games and game design. It easily makes up the vast majority of the site’s content. If you are looking for something specific, I highly recommend looking into the tags used on the site instead. They can narrow down the hunt immensely.

A classic game revived in China backfires

 Posted by (Visited 6138 times)  Game talk  Tagged with: ,
Sep 052009
 

Several days ago, Shanda published some screen captures which the players sadly found to include class restrictions and commercial stores … the RMB will dominate everything … if a player has cash, he can purchase equipment to upgrade without having to go through the trouble to combat monsters …

The players decided to call for a boycott.  They established Baidu forums and QQ groups to protest the “false advertising” by Shanda to “take advantage of their feelings.”  Some of the leaders even called for the players to block the entrances to the various cities at 2pm, August 28 when the game officially opened.

At one entrance, more than 40 characters stood still.  They wore cloth dresses and cloth shoes and stood shoulder to shoulder.  Other players cannot enter.  Two hours later, more than 2,000 people entered the chat room.  Meanwhile, several thousand people were blocking the gates of the various cities in the game.

EastSouthWestNorth: The Legend Returns

The link is a screenshot-heavy post detailing the story of what happened when the game Hot-Blooded Legend was revived as an RMT-heavy title called The Legend Returns. It was met with protests… the page has two different accounts of the event, here’s a snippet from the other:

The reason why this mass incident occurred was that the new version of Legend was over-commercialized and quite inconsistent with their advertising claim that the “original flavor” would be preserved.  In previous versions of the game, victories and social rank depend on persistence.  As long as the player is “hardworking” and is brave and strong in combating monsters, he can get promoted in rank and obtain more equipment.  In fact, he can proceed to have “romance” and even “marriage” in a life of leisure.

Blue Mars open beta

 Posted by (Visited 6453 times)  Game talk  Tagged with:
Sep 022009
 

Blue Mars is entering its open beta. For those who have not been following it, I’d describe it as a contemporary take on the There.com model more than a Second Life style environment — brand partnerships, high quality graphics, aimed at adult social interaction. They do have a developer program, however, so there is content creation capability for those who enter the program. As a result, it’s gotten most of its buzz from within the Second Life community to date.

Blue Mars is a free to play massively multiplayer virtual world featuring stunning graphics, realistic characters, and endless social bonding activities. The Blue Mars virtual world is made up of an expanding set of independently operated cities that feature unique themes, activities, and attractions such as shopping, avatar customization, unique personal spaces, and games like dancing, racing, and golf. Cites on Blue Mars are tied together with a unified login system, persistent global Avatar ID, and platform wide participation based reward system that encourages users to explore, play, and make new friends.

Sep 012009
 
  • “The point of games is to tell a story.”
  • “There is nothing you can do in a game that causes actual harm to someone in real life.”
  • “That’s just a minigame.”
  • “3d is better.”
  • “There simply isn’t any sexuality in virtual worlds.”
  • “WOW is probably the only game of its design and model which has EVER been successful.”

Just been piling these up in a little note, and figured it was time to briefly vent.

Aug 272009
 

I know, everyone and their cousin has a panel up in the SXSW Panel Picker. Well, we at Metaplace do too, and here it is… go vote for it!

SXSW 2010 PanelPicker – Making Virtual Worlds And The Web Collide.

Description:
Until now, virtual worlds have been walled gardens restricted to their platform. This panel will explore how virtual worlds are now bridging to the “real,” web world. Twitter interfaces, embeddable virtual worlds and other bridges are opening opportunities for users to communicate and promote to the outside web.
Questions
Answered:
  1. What has the evolution of virtual worlds been in regards to access to the outside web?
  2. How far have virtual worlds come in opening to the outside web?
  3. What are the biggest benefits to this bridging?
  4. Are there downfalls?
  5. What are some of the case studies of this happening in virtual worlds now?
  6. How will updates and innovations in browser-based technology further this initiative?
  7. What does the future look like for virtual worlds in relation to the web?
  8. Can this opening of virtual worlds to the web be monetized?
  9. What are the biggest changes in gaming and virtual worlds to come from this?
  • How will this affect the non virtual world user?