Tag: Lego Universe

Lego Universe Was Hindered By Dong Detection Software


legouniverse

Lego Universe was an MMO that allowed players a free space to build anything their heart desired, and since the internet is well known as a mature and well behaved medium, it may surprise you to learn that some players were using the creator to build brick representations of male genitals. Former Lego Universe developer Megan Fox took to Twitter to discuss how Lego wanted a free build game with absolutely no dongs.

The moderation costs of Lego Universe were a big issue in general. They wanted a creative building MMO with a promise of zero penises seen. They actually had a huge moderation team that got a bunch of screenshots of every model, every property. Entirely whitelist-based building.

Obviously Lego Universe’s problems extend far beyond simple dong filtering, but a moderation team can get expensive very quickly, and most assuredly was a large factor.

(Source: Eurogamer)

MMO Fallout Mentioned In LEGO Book


legouniverse

Some of you may remember back a billion years ago when I interviewed Stephen Calender about Lego Universe, back when MMO Fallout was an even tinier blip on the radar of the internet. Generally I assume that our old articles are lost to the deep recesses of history, not to mention the back pages of Google’s search ranking, only to be brought up when I feel like talking about them. Count me wrong, because not only did someone dig up the old interview, but they felt it pertinent enough to mention in a real life book. With pages!

Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry is about how LEGO brought itself up from the brink of irrelevance to become one of the most successful toy companies ever. It also has a small mention to our interview with Stephen Calender, about the flaws in Lego Universe and the difficulty in getting rid of all of the bugs in a game.

Check it out at the link below.

(Source: Amazon)

MMOs: Bring Them Back, Or Let Them Lie


I love reading about MMOs being resurrected, almost as much as I hate reading about MMOs being resurrected. On one hand, it’s great to see that a game I once thought dead has attracted the attention of another enterprising company. But then I sit back and ask myself, “do I really want someone else touching my game? Tainting my memories?”

So I will be publishing several lists of dead MMOs, and whether I feel they should be brought back or if they have given us all that they can.

The Matrix Online

As much as many of us would love to see The Matrix Online make a return, the franchise hit its heyday a long time ago and it is not coming back. Bringing back The Matrix Online would be a financial investment not only in infrastructure but requiring new people to learn how to code and maintain the system, an investment that only a person of questionable sanity would be willing to forego.

There isn’t enough interest in the Matrix anymore to justify bringing this ancient one back, so sorry but:

Verdict: Let It Lie.

Bringing Tabula Rasa back would require a bit of a lore-shift for the MMO. After all, since NCSoft worked the closure into the game, when the servers shut down on February 28th, 2009, it resulted in the AFS forces detonating a massive bomb that resulted in the mutual destruction of the AFS and Bane forces. So that leaves us with humanity: dead, and Bane: dead.

Of course, re-writing history is the easy part. But were someone to purchase the rights and the code, they would find the remnants of what could have been a masterpiece, and was gearing up for just that when NCSoft shuttered the title. Somewhat like Star Wars Galaxies, in the months after NCSoft announced the shut down, Destination Games worked tirelessly to introduce many of the features players had been asking for and probably quitting over since the game launched.

Buying Tabula Rasa would be far easier and likely much less expensive than working on an original sci-fi MMO of the same variety.

Verdict: Pitchblack Games Should Buy Tabula Rasa

Absolutely not. Take this from someone who supported Earth Eternal through every company and iteration the game has gone through so far. I personally found Earth Eternal to be a charming game, but commercial success this game is not. Consider the fact that even when Earth Eternal was 100% free to play, that no one was playing should be an indication that any money spent into reviving this title for a third run would be wasting money that could have gone to a more productive service.

Like a bonfire.

Verdict: Its Zombified Corpse Has Liquified. Stop.

Sure, why not. Lego Universe was a great game and there are many reasons it should be brought back, not the least of which being that LEGO continued the great NetDevil tradition of poorly advertising their game and then wondering why it didn’t gather the attraction they so desired. If LEGO Universe is to be brought back, however, some changes should come with it.

For starters, LEGO could do well with a similar subscription plan to Wizard 101: allowing families to bundle their subscriptions for a discount. Additionally, the game would need a more open trial system than it had pre-shutdown, and LEGO would have to do some real advertising.

LEGO Universe has potential, and not the kind that you use to describe a broken system. The game is fine, more people just needed to know about it.

Verdict: Resurrect it.

I have no idea how much it would cost to translate Everquest Online Adventures to a download-format and bring it back on the Playstation Network, but I’m guessing it would be expensive. When EQOA shut down, it wasn’t because the game was busted or Sony was going under, but simply because the game had become old.

There were no new players coming into Everquest Online Adventures, and for good reason: The Playstation 2 is a dead console and the Playstation 3 is not backwards compatible (sans 1st generation). Additionally, finding new copies of Everquest Online Adventures was near impossible, or otherwise extremely expensive. Unlike other MMOs, EQOA never had the opportunity to transition to a download format, and once the game was off store shelves, its death sentence was written.

Unfortunately, translating the game to be playable on new Playstation 3’s may be too expensive or even impossible on the very antiquated engine.

Verdict: Resurrect If You Can, Though You Probably Can’t.

Let's Talk: MMOs For Your Kids


If Lego Universe has a legacy to leave behind, it is a page in history soaked with the sorrow of children and parents who simply want to give them a game that they can have fun with and perhaps learn something from. Since I wrote the bit on Lego Universe and children with autism, the stories of the parents have made their way all over the Internet and I’ve received more requests for alternatives and suggestions of said alternatives than I can count.

Lego Universe is a game that won’t be replaced any time soon, the combination of freedom to build and the outstanding community are unmatched by anything else on the market. When suggesting games for kids, I wanted to miss a few caveats that others have a habit of falling into. So here are some games, both online and offline, that can somewhat substitute Lego Universe.

Continue reading “Let's Talk: MMOs For Your Kids”

Let’s Talk: MMOs For Your Kids


If Lego Universe has a legacy to leave behind, it is a page in history soaked with the sorrow of children and parents who simply want to give them a game that they can have fun with and perhaps learn something from. Since I wrote the bit on Lego Universe and children with autism, the stories of the parents have made their way all over the Internet and I’ve received more requests for alternatives and suggestions of said alternatives than I can count.

Lego Universe is a game that won’t be replaced any time soon, the combination of freedom to build and the outstanding community are unmatched by anything else on the market. When suggesting games for kids, I wanted to miss a few caveats that others have a habit of falling into. So here are some games, both online and offline, that can somewhat substitute Lego Universe.

Continue reading “Let’s Talk: MMOs For Your Kids”

Lego Universe And Autism, Or, A Shattered Heart


I hate reporting on MMOs shutting down. For how much the market is saturated, each game holds a special place in at least one person’s heart, and no matter how unmarketable the title was there will always be a group to mourn its loss. It almost goes without saying that when a kid’s MMO is shuttered, the effect is even worse. I received this comment on the Lego Universe article yesterday:

I sure hope you are willing to make the server files available to people who wish to run a private server in their home for their children to play. I understand you cannot allow internet based servers, but there should be a way to play on a LAN. Please, for those of us who bought the game. I have a son with Autism, and I am very concerned about how this shut down will affect him!
-Mike Shaffer

I think Mike misunderstood that I have no affiliation with Lego Universe, but how do you answer that question? How do you tell a child with autism that the game that has helped them so much is going away? A quick trip to the Lego Universe forums was apparent that Mike isn’t the only person in this position as a parent. Read on for other stories from the forums…

Continue reading “Lego Universe And Autism, Or, A Shattered Heart”

Lego Universe And Autism, Or, A Shattered Heart


I hate reporting on MMOs shutting down. For how much the market is saturated, each game holds a special place in at least one person’s heart, and no matter how unmarketable the title was there will always be a group to mourn its loss. It almost goes without saying that when a kid’s MMO is shuttered, the effect is even worse. I received this comment on the Lego Universe article yesterday:

I sure hope you are willing to make the server files available to people who wish to run a private server in their home for their children to play. I understand you cannot allow internet based servers, but there should be a way to play on a LAN. Please, for those of us who bought the game. I have a son with Autism, and I am very concerned about how this shut down will affect him!
-Mike Shaffer

I think Mike misunderstood that I have no affiliation with Lego Universe, but how do you answer that question? How do you tell a child with autism that the game that has helped them so much is going away? A quick trip to the Lego Universe forums was apparent that Mike isn’t the only person in this position as a parent. Read on for other stories from the forums…

Continue reading “Lego Universe And Autism, Or, A Shattered Heart”

Lego Universe Online Shutting Down January 2012


Hello Adventurer, today we are very sad to announce that LEGO Universe will be closing on Janurary 31, 2012. This was a very difficult decision to make, but unfortunately LEGO Universe has not been able to attract the number of members needed to keep the game open.

We are thankful to have had the opportunity to share this adventure wiith an amazing community of players. We hope you will continue to enjoy LEGO Universe for the last few months. As a thank you, if you are a paying subscriber on December 31, 2011, we will provide you the full game for the final month for free.

Again, we want to thank the fantastic community of players who made LEGO Universe such a vibrant, fun and creative experience.

Sincerely,
The LEGO Universe Team

In a post on the Lego Universe forums today, LEGO group announced that the game will be shutting down on January 31st, 2012. The move comes in response to lackluster reception of the title, with the building MMO not attaining enough paying customers to warrant continued operations. Even worse, the closure comes with two studios shutting down at LEGO group, affecting over one hundred employees.

In spite of very positive player feedback and a large number of players in the free play zone, it has not been possible to convert a satisfactory number of players to paying subscribers. It has therefore been decided to close the game as of January 31, 2012.

I’d like to channel Stephen Calender from our interview a few months back, on the difficulty of selling a children’s game.

You know, it is an incredibly difficult thing to sell a kids game, because while your audience is children (or children at heart perhaps) the parents are the ones holding the purse strings.  I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one to notice that LEGO’s price point has gradually decreased over the last couple months.  LEGO was definitely testing the waters price point wise, they certainly have the resources to be patient, pricing is kind of a one way street, you typically only move down until you meet demand, its a common thing.  It’s not like we were not aware of our competition in that space (Toontown, Wizard101, Free Realms, etc), which have free to play options.  It is just your typical post launch move to extend your games reach and create more opportunities to grab and convert users into subscribers, the only real decision was probably when in the pipeline they were comfortable making it.

Lego Universe shutting down is particularly disappointing, because it’s an IP that many of us hold rather close to heart. Do you think some other MMO developers can head over to LEGO Group and go on a hiring spree? Please?

Lego Universe Free To Play Today


Check your Calenders, folks. August 15th brings with it the partial free to play transition for Lego Universe. Starting today, players will be able to download the game for free and access two adventure zones and one player property, as well as a large amount of mini-figure customization options and equipment to acquire. Of course this is all an incentive to get players into the game to eventually upgrade to membership, so consider this not much more than an extended trial with no time limits, similar to World of Warcraft’s.

More on Lego Universe as it appears. You can read the whole news story here. A subscription to Lego Universe costs $10 USD a month.

Lego Universe: Bringing Leveling


Lego Universe has been quite the topic for MMO Fallout over the past week or so, and Lego Team hopes to make the game a little more MMO-ish in the coming weeks. One aspect Lego Universe has been missing is player levels, rather players join a faction and level up through the ranks by completing missions and mini-games, obtaining better gear as they obtain ranks and tokens. In the next few weeks, Lego hopes to turn all of that upside down by introducing levels.

In an announcement, players will be able to level to 40, obtaining rewards along the way including buffs, pets, and gear. Rather than forcing players to grind mobs, minifigures will simply need to collect u-score, which most players already do, by completing missions, achievements, and mini-games. That u-score will determine your level.

For players worried about their high level gear, Lego already has that covered. When the update goes live, players will be able to wield anything linked to their character, regardless of level.