Ever since MMO Fallout was in its infancy, I’ve been talking about the ongoing lawsuit between Turbine and Atari over the Dungeons and Dragons IP. One interesting note I had about the lawsuit was Turbine’s allegation that Atari was working on a Neverwinter Nights MMO behind their backs, and was intending on shutting down DDO to ensure that there would only be one MMO based on the IP on the market. Of course, this litigation is still going on, not to mention Hasbro’s attempt to grab back the D&D IP from Atari for allowing competing companies to use the D&D name.
At GenCon, Atari gave a cryptic (ha!) hint that they were working on a new D&D game which, coupled with the fact that Atari has been buying up Neverwinter Nights domains like they’re going out of style, and Cryptic has their new MMO being announced at the end of this summer, it all seems to time up just right to announce the essentially-announced Neverwinter Nights MMO.
At this point in the saga, we’re like the fans following the release of the sixth Harry Potter book: We knew the seventh was coming out, all we were waiting for was a name and a date. And J.K Rowling would fool no one going on stage and waving around a piece of paper while exclaiming this great new book she has coming out, all the while buying up Harry Potter related domains.
So…There’s no need to pull back the veil, Atari: The fabric you’re using is already see-through.
Earth Eternal is one of those MMOs I talked about mainly on my Facebook page, which mostly occurred last year when I was in the beta. The MMO has always been tiny, be it the furry inhabitants that populate the world, or the teeny developer that created it, but not the client that ran it. Earth Eternal is like WoW-Lite, I believe I referred to it as, but injected with a full syringe of vitamin-D (The D stands for D’aww).
So, of course, I’m saddened to say Earth Eternal will likely be shutting down fairly soon. In an open letter to the community, Sparkplay CEO Matt Mihaly announced that the team has been cut down to two people, one of them being him, and the latest attempt to sell the game has failed. Although Earth Eternal is up for auction, it is probable that no one will buy up the title.
“I will keep you updated as to what is going to happen with Earth Eternal, but in all likelihood we won’t know until late on Friday whether someone is going to buy EE and keep it running or not. Let’s hope for the best!”
I came upon this decision months ago, but I’ve been sitting on it until someone pointed out my hint, and they did in an email I received:
I see you updated your calendar showing MMO birthdays, but only titles that are five years old and older are displayed. Is there a reason for this? Or do you consider five years to be the point of “success” and none of the others are worth mentioning.
Borderline obsessive-compulsive grammar notations aside, what the reader pointed out is not correct at all. Those of you who have stuck with MMO Fallout since our earlier days are well aware that I refuse to stick labels on to MMOs, and have maintained that what makes up a “successful” title or a “failed” title really depends on what goals the developer set out and what they accomplished in that time frame. As no MMO will live forever, to put an arbitrary time on how long of a lifespan makes up success would be meaningless.
So what is this Turing test, you ask? My test bases itself on population, place, self-awareness, and perception. The date is five years after release. By the time an MMO passes the Turing test, the following has been in stone:
Population: By the time an MMO hits five years old, the stream of incoming players is more akin to a slow drip, and five years is enough to keep the veteran players entrapped with new content, as well as not wanting to leave behind their high level, high-time-invested characters. The company is well in-tune with the size and needs of their player base, and can plan accordingly.
Self-Awareness: The developer knows the limits of their engine, and has likely hit those limits by now. Using this knowledge, they set reasonable goals that are met in a timely fashion, due to decreased time debugging software and experimenting with previously unused techniques.
Place: This is where the developer knows exactly what spot they fill on the MMO spectrum. For example, Dark Age of Camelot is a Realm V Realm game and thus needs more concentrated servers for player vs player. Runescape is more solo-oriented and players spread out to maximize their resource intake. Darkfall is a niche PvP game that focuses on freedom over babying its players.
Perception: By the time an MMO hits five years, they know where they are going. For games like City of Heroes and Lineage, where the population is still thriving, this means regular updates, expansion packs, and major continued support into its old age. For games like Planetside, that face continuing server mergers, slow death. By the time five years comes around, any MMO that can die via short-term mass-exodus already has, such as FURY, or Tabula Rasa.
The important part of my Turing test is that although I call it a test, it is not my judgement of success. Rather, something to be viewed as closer to one’s employment in a business. After you have worked for a single company for so many years, you likely know exactly where your place is, strengths and weaknesses, relations to those around you, and whether you are seeking a promotion, to stay at your current position, or find a new job entirely.
The Turing test is also not exact. “Five years” is not some magical line, and many companies hit their pass/fail on the Turing test over a year earlier than the five-year mark. I decided upon Five years after looking at the MMOs on the market, those that are long gone, with an extra focus on those that are getting along in years. What I found was that most MMOs that are going to “crash and burn” as some put it, do so within three years of release. Asheron’s Call 2 was 3 years, Tabula Rasa was 2 years, Auto Assault was 1 year, FURY was 10 months, and the list goes on. You’ll notice that even World of Warcraft is not immune to the Turing test, as the title has peaked and is now on a downward slope. The more observant of you will note the date of stagnation at around 11.5 million subscribers: 2009, five years after launch.
So if anything, 3 years is around the “do or die” timeline, whereby 5 years the future of the game should be laid out quite plainly.
My interpretation of the Turing test for MMOs is over a year in the making, and doesn’t draw a fine line as much as it does paint a trend. There are still many MMOs that are in their testing phase, and may shape the Turing test in years to come, so expect several followups over the next couple of years.
To those of you who disagree with my perception, I would love to hear your thoughts on a more finely tuned Turing Test.
Those of you who are acquainted with Sony Online Entertainment are likely aware of Live Gamer, the “legit” real money trading website where players can buy and sell characters, gold, and more between each other without fear of getting scammed by some guy sitting in China watching ten WoW bots do their work. Currently, the Live Gamer Exchange only covers Everquest II, Vanguard (Vanguard had 54 characters up for sale, with only one bid between them), and Free Realms.
No matter how you feel about Live Gamer, the company has announced a partnership with Electronic Arts to cooperate on their MMOs. There is no word as of yet as to which of EA’s MMOs this will include (The Old Republic, Warhammer Online, Dark Age of Camelot, and Ultima Online), or exactly what services Live Gamer will bring to these titles, but speculation is abound. Considering Live Gamer currently allows players to trade currency, characters, and items for cash (and vice versa) in the MMOs it does support, it isn’t too far of a reach to assume that whatever MMO EA decides to lend will offer similar features.
Fallen Earth is great in the sense that you don’t necessarily have to resubscribe just to get a good idea on how the game has progressed. Rather than plunk down fifteen bucks on a month-long subscription you might regret, this particular MMO is known to throw out fourteen day passes every few months to inactive accounts, allowing them unrestricted access to the game, and hopefully to get them back to forking over some moolah.
If you are an ex-Fallen Earth player, including trial accounts, head on over to this website to activate your account for fourteen days, no restrictions. You only have until August 4th to reactivate your accounts before this offer expires. You might even see me reactivated at the upcoming Texan Invasion event on the 25th (My character’s name is Jomali…I think.). The offer is not for new accounts, although a fourteen day trial already exists for new players.
I’ve included the URL in its base form, as people unfamiliar with MMO Fallout may take me with less trust than your average MMO website. http://www.fallenearth.com/retry.html
Previously known as Mechscape, Jagex’s entry into the Sci-fi genre of MMO brotherhood has had a shaky startup. Not only has the title been delayed, canned, delayed again, seen two CEOs, but there hasn’t been much in terms of coverage for the fledgling title. Promised to not be “Runescape In Space” (likely why Mechscape was dropped as its name), Stellar Dawn is set to be Jagex’s biggest new offering to date, next to Dungeons of Demonheim on Runescape.
Luckily, Stellar Dawn has officially launched its website with an early 2011 release date. Over on the Stellar Dawn website, you can apply for the closed beta, check out some concept art, and join the forums to discuss the upcoming game.
Red 5 Studios was founded by World of Warcraft veteran staff, and continued the tradition that Richard Garriot had upheld just a year prior: That for some reason new companies formed by old MMO vets have a habit of imploding in on themselves, if they ever even release a product. I also mentioned that Red 5’s MMOFPS appeared to have been scrapped in favor of a new MMO geared towards the Chinese market. Fast forward one month, and you have The9 (estranged ex-Chinese World of Wacraft host) buying the majority stake in Red 5 and FireRain. Since then, there hasn’t been much word from Red 5.
And there still isn’t. Production on Red 5’s MMO is still reportedly underway, with information coming soon.
“The game has not been put on hold or delayed. While we are using a highly-modified version of the Project Offset engine, the closing of the Intel team does not impact our ability to complete our own project. We look forward to releasing more information abouto ur project in the near future.”
Red 5 Studios was founded by World of Warcraft veteran staff, and continued the tradition that Richard Garriot had upheld just a year prior: That for some reason new companies formed by old MMO vets have a habit of imploding in on themselves, if they ever even release a product. I also mentioned that Red 5’s MMOFPS appeared to have been scrapped in favor of a new MMO geared towards the Chinese market. Fast forward one month, and you have The9 (estranged ex-Chinese World of Wacraft host) buying the majority stake in Red 5 and FireRain. Since then, there hasn’t been much word from Red 5.
And there still isn’t. Production on Red 5’s MMO is still reportedly underway, with information coming soon.
“The game has not been put on hold or delayed. While we are using a highly-modified version of the Project Offset engine, the closing of the Intel team does not impact our ability to complete our own project. We look forward to releasing more information abouto ur project in the near future.”
All Points Bulletin is in the middle of an identity crisis, as it would seem, where the developers need to pick a side and stick with it, as to whether or not the game is an MMO or a competitive shooter.
A'ridin on a pony
Realtime World’s Dave Jones predicted that reviewers would not be so lenient on All Points Bulletin, and he was right. So far, the reviews have been around the middle (average 5’s to 6’s out of 10), with the negative comments mainly focused on the idea that, for a driving and shooting game, the driving and shooting mechanics need quite a bit of tuning. A lot of good has been noted towards the customization features and the character creator.
All Points Bulletin is in the middle of an identity crisis, as it would seem, where the developers need to pick a side and stick with it, as to whether or not the game is an MMO or a competitive shooter.
If All Points Bulletin is an MMO, Realtime Worlds needs to flesh out the world which, as of right now, is quite two dimensional. I’m not asking for anything huge, like the epic quests in Lord of the Rings Online, but Realtime Worlds could definitely spruce up the world by hosting live story-driven events that allow both sides to be involved. They could run an overall story arc with developer presence akin to The Matrix Online, for example starting with the criminals attempting to blow up a building and steal secret files inside (not in that order). Whoever wins moves the story arc in a variety of areas.
On the other hand, if Realtime Worlds wants to bill itself as a competitive online shooter, then the shooting and driving mechanics need to be overhauled yesterday. In a game where chase missions are often and plenty, having driving being as painful as it is in All Points Bulletin is very off-putting, feeling as if you are behind the wheel of a consistently intoxicated driver. As many have also said, the shooting feels unresponsive and you don’t feel as if you are shooting a weapon when the person you are pumping a full clip into barely flinches.
On another note, if Realtime Worlds wants to bill APB as a shoot-em-up and not an MMO, you will likely see that subscription go out the door faster than with Global Agenda, and Global Agenda’s subscription portion was eons closer to the traditional MMO formula than All Points Bulletin is.
I like All Points Bulletin, and I did pre-order, and I have played several hours. I do admit, however, that the game appears to be torn between two genres, and may be trying to move in two directions at once in a “jack of all trades, master of none” situation.
