I got a package in the mail from Jagex Ltd, after a discount put me on a shopping spree.
Well, so it was a two item shopping spree, but what do you want from me? I’m not made of money!
My Package From Jagex Ltd.
Tag: Runescap
Mark Gerhard: Third MMO Coming, Clarifies Comments
With the cancellation of Mechscape, you might think Jagex would put most of their focus on their current MMO Runescape and upcoming MMO Stellar Dawn, but in an interview published today by Eurogamer, CEO Mark Gerhard thinks otherwise. When questioned on the technical aspects of Runescape and Stellar Dawn, Gerhard stated the following:
“A lot of what we’ve done to push the boundary for Stellar Dawn will benefit RuneScape and another MMO we’re working on,”
In the same interview, Gerhard was asked if Jagex would like to go back to a fantasy MMO, to which he replied;
“We do, we totally do. We’re working on it as we speak.”
Luckily for those of you playing Runescape, Gerhard stated that Jagex still sees the game as their foremost product for at least ten more years. 2020 Runescape? That is a lot of discontinued holiday items! I reported just last week on Mark Gerhard referring to Free Realms as “insipid,” to which the Eurogamer interviewer was keen enough to get a following comment:
“Having played Free Realms there’s very little I get out of it. To me it just screams design by committee: 20 different people from 20 different focus groups to say, “Let’s have a little bit of this for the girls, let’s have a little bit of that for the boys, let’s get the six-year-olds, let’s get the 16-year-olds.” If you want a game for a six year-old you’ve got it, it’s called Club Penguin.
If you take a brand that accentuates its own identity, it’s going to resonate with the target demographic really well. Free Realms tries to be all things to all men and women and ends up being nothing.”
Check out the full interview, as Gerhard gives some insight into why Mechscape was cancelled, what parts are continuing to Stellar Dawn, among other issues.
More on Stellar Dawn, Runescape, and this new MMO as it appears.
Jagex: Stellar Dawn 2011, We Swear
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.
More on Stellar Dawn as it appears.
Runescape Free* Membership Trial Coming
In regards to freemium titles, MMOs that offer a small portion of the game for free with the rest at a subscription rate, that the existing free portion of the game technically serves as a trial. It may not be limited by time, but it is limited in content available. With Runescape, Jagex would prefer that the free portion was not referred to as a limited trial, as their goal is to create a fully realized game that free players can indulge themselves in without paying a dime, ever. Other than that, there is no way for players to gain access to the members worlds without actually paying a membership fee.
With the above image leaked from the player moderator forums on Runescape, June 23rd will bring us the first ever limited time trial in Runescape, for Runescape memberships. And that is where the niceties end. Oddly enough, in order to partake in the 7 day trial, you have to provide a credit card that can only be used on one account, and there is a several dollar fee that is taken out as a deposit and returned at the end of the process. In addition to all of that, the player must manually disable their subscription before the seven days are up, otherwise they will be automatically put into the billing system for the full game.
The credit card reason is obvious: To stop real money traders from ravaging members with countless throwaway accounts. The fee, on the other hand, makes little sense. The cost is small enough as it is, but if you have a credit card and those few dollars, why not spend the tiny amount more and experience members for the full 30 days rather than just a week? You don’t get the money back, but if you have the credit card and the few dollars to plop down as a deposit, would you really miss it?
In order to combat abuse, you will only be allowed one account to a credit card, not that the real money traders have ever had much of an issue stealing credit cards before (Hint: The 2007 Runescape anti-rwt updates were in response to rampant credit card theft being used to pay for membership on bot accounts).
More on Runescape as it appears.
New Runescape Armor Costs 1-3 Months of Gametime
Back in pre-MMO Fallout 2008, I pondered whether or not Square Enix hired sadists to create the biggest bosses for Final Fantasy XI, and if I remember correctly my verdict was yes. Of course, the barrel of that day’s gun was pointed at Beyond The Limitation, a Final Fantasy guild that gave a detailed description of their fight against the boss Pandemonium Warden, before they finally gave up and trudged out some 20+ transformations and 18 hours later. Oddly enough, the group left the fight so that their, presumably 20+ hour, victory would not have been picked up by the press and used against gamers. Rather, their defeat was picked up by the press and used against Square Enix, especially the following quote:
“People were passing out and getting physically ill. We decided to end it before we risked turning into a horrible new story about how video games ruin people’s lives.”
So Square Enix later altered the boss battle, and several others, to be shorter, but the story still stands almost two years later as one of the remaining reasons why MMOs have some of their less desirable reputations, mind numbing tediousness.
But speaking of mind numbing segues, Runescape launched a pretty substantial update to the mini-game Castle Wars, a capture-the-flag style game where players representing one of two deities fight to take the other team’s flag. Each Castle Wars game lasts 20 minutes, and on more populated worlds regularly runs down to who can zerg rush with the most area of effect spells.
The armor Castle Wars provided was something of a status symbol, as despite not being particularly powerful, the armor took a lot of dedication to the game to obtain. For winning a game of Castle Wars, you gain two tickets. A tie results in one ticket, and a loss results in no tickets. At twenty minutes per round, even the most basic set requires almost five hours of game time, assuming you win every match.
The rewards become increasingly ridiculous as you move up to the tier 4 armor, as shown in the chart below:
Rank 4 armor, Profound, requires a minimum of 1,975 games (this is assuming you win every game), which will take 658 hours to complete. This amounts to over 27 days of pure Castle Wars, 24 hours a day, assuming you win every game you ever play. To put it bluntly:
- For each win, the statistic remains the same.
- For each tie, add 20 minutes.
- For each loss, add 40 minutes.
Every time your win:loss ratio goes down 10%, you waste over 70 hours of pure game time. So a player with a 75% rating will lose over seven and a half days of pure game time. That is an extra 182 hours of time spent making no progress. To top it off, my figures don’t include the wait time in between rounds. Factor that in, and you end up with almost 150% of the previous estimation.
The Castle Wars professional cape, which costs 2 tickets, is only available after playing five thousand games of Castle Wars. Accomplishing this would take almost 87 days, factoring in waiting time, playing 24 hours a day. I don’t dictate to players how they should spend there time, but there is a fair line between grind and ridiculous that both the Profound armor and the Professional cape crosses. Players who obtain this cape will surely be greeted as they wear it in the streets, but I have a feeling it won’t be with the “respect” they might anticipate.
More on Runescape as it appears.
A Cinematic Runescape Trailer?
Best of April Fools 2010
While doing Kevin Bacon’s usual rounds of Topeka searches for MMO news from my favorite Kansas city of Google, Kevin Bacon checked the calendar and realized: It’s April 1st! The glorious day of the year where, at least in Kevin Bacon’s experiences, news stories fall into one of two categories: Companies either announce something insanely exciting, only to link you to Rick Astley or a well-designed news page, or something horrifying. If you’re a skeptical optimist, like Kevin Bacon, you usually end up looking at everything in the first week of April as if it might spring from the page and stab you in the face. Kevin Bacon is not completely sure that this article itself is real.
With every April Fools that comes and goes, it is important to remember that for every generation of gamers that are used to the April 1st jollies, there are plenty more who fly off the handle when Blizzard announces that World of Warcraft is shutting down due to low subscriber numbers. So, for better or worse, here is the Best of April Fools: 2010 edition.
- Earth Eternal is ready to make fun of their status as a “kiddy” game, with weapons and graphics removed (but purchasable in the cash shop).
- Runescape is finally ready to announce the grand opening of the Wet & Wildy theme park! I wonder how long before the popcorn is nerfed, those kernels are overpowered.
- Blizzard hopes you have fifteen grand to drop on a virtual reality helmet, and let’s be honest: Who doesn’t? This new technology will allow you to experience Battlenet and World of Warcraft in ways you only dreamed possible. A deal, and lasts for months on end before needing a replacement, that’s longer than your average battery!
- Ớ̸̥̗̝̼̙͕͉͙̇̆͑̔ͥ̃͒ͦ̓ͤ͂͌͋̌ͦͨ̓̂͟h̶̢̧̛̟̥̠̘̱̼̳̭͒̄͋̎͗̉́ͣ̌̽̒̑͊͗̃͝ ̸̨̛̭̼͖̺̹̝̪̯̓̈́ͣ͗̉͊̈́̀͗̐̈̚g͒͑̓ͦ͂̔͊̑ͥ̿̽̔̃̈̊͏̸̡͖̯̼͉̜ͅͅǫ̴̪̟̠̟̪̩̼̤͕͂̆̿ͩ̿ͧͬ̇͑̉̑́̚̚͝d̡͈̙̰̠̩͍̺̗̣͛́̉͗̑̔͑̂̃͒ͭ͢ ̭̗̠̳̲̬̻͍̜̭͖̘͇̄͒̏̒̽͘ẉ̘̲͍̪͍̭̝̯ͣ̏̆̎̃ͮͧ̃̊́̉̀͢h̟̬̩͈̟̖͉̞̭͙̤̼̺̖̲͓̩̎ͫ̈́͌̃ͧͣ͐̎ͣ͆ͮ͆̒̚͜͠y̸̷̛͂̉͆͐̆̓̏͏̗̟̙̘̟̪ͅ ̶͓̘̜̺̺̭̥͕͛ͩͯ̿̕͟d̹̱͇̦̮̤͙̙͕͖̀̈̽͋ͮ͐͆̑̽͛̔͐̾̎͗ͣ͌́͢o̸̢̨̥̳̠̰̘̖͈̓ͭ̆̈̓ͭ͑̽ͮͬ͌ͮ̾̒̒̾ͮ̉̚͠ ̵̧̰̯̦̼̻͚͍̠͙̫̦̠̰̦ͣͦ̓̈̾̊̒ͥ̽͗̏̅̏̿͊̃̀́̚̕ͅͅṱ̶̶̛͔͕̲̫̤̣͕̤̞̭̳̲̣̘̬̘ͣ͌ͣ̉̅͛̏̈͂͑͐̋ͭ͐ͪ́̚̕h̼͕̠̹͔͙͓̱̫̬͔͛ͪ̎̔̄ͧ͒͒̄́̚͟e̛͈͖̞̼̬̪͉̞͔̯͎͊͂͒̅ͩͩ̒̋̌̐͒̈́ͣ̆͑̓ͬ͞ͅy̝̪͙̰̰̬̜͒ͬͫ̈́̊ͭ̂͛͐̿̒͌ͮ͗ͫ͜͢ ̧͓̳̣̠͙ͥ̃ͥ̾ͦ͂͛͟h̶̶̵̪̤̻͉̹̖̗̤̜̼̖̣̜̿̊̉̒̚ų̶͍̖͍̰̙͕͉̀ͥͫ̀ͯͪ͛͐ͨͤ͑̉ͅͅŗ̖̼̟͕͔͎͉̰͍͍̪̞̱̯ͪ̃̂͗ͩ́̈͒̓ͦ͛̉͢͢͞͞ͅṫ̶̡̩͚̮͍̮̈́̓ͩ̀ͫͣ͆ͦͤͣ̈̆̉ͯ̆ͩ͟ ̷̨̻̤̬̟́̀͑ͫͫ͗̋̂ͧͭͮ̃ͤͮ̒̆̃ͯ͜s̨̛͎̳̺͓͉̦̍͆̆̉̏͑̅̑̀͑͂̆̓̊́͢ͅo̷ͦͦ̿̐̄ͩ̽͏͏̖̤̘̻̟̗̤̪̭̞̝̦̱͔̤͘͝ ͈̭͖͟ͅb̧̢͍͉̭̣̗̻̠̓ͩͮͬ̅̐ͪ̒̏͆͘͠ȁ̷̵̯̹͈̰̣̥̼̟͔̯̟̟̠̰͖̘͍͌̋́͛̐̓̉̌̿͌̽̔ͪͮ͋̅͟d̛̄͆̋ͣ̒̅̃̓̋̇͒̈͂̃̏̄͟͏̮̥͈̳̭͓̕ͅͅļ̲͚̼͈̏̿ͬ̀ͯͨ͒̔ͨy̡̗͍̳̟̩̐̓ͩ͊̍̓̑͆ͩͣͫ̊͐̒ͧ̀̀ ̝̹͖͎͉ͧ̇ͧͣͥͭͫ̊ͭ͆̈̿ͨ̋͗̾̚̕̕ô̸̯͙̬̯͍̗̗̙͉̠̖̼ͬͯ͑͆͒ͤͫ͐͘͘̕͝h̷̢͖͚̤̠̫̿͆ͪ̔̽̔ͫͣ̄ͦ͛̓̿ͩ͘͜ ͔̦̺͔̟͎͖̤̲̜̙̙̳̙̞͖̦̩̟͋̆͗̌̀̓ͫ̉ͣ̏͋̇̐̉͑͒̎̀́̚͜g̲̭͙̣̺̗͈̰̙̦̲̯ơ̶̳̦̰̠̱̥̹̰͐̉͆͒̓͌ͤͬ̍̑ͯ͂ͭ̐̅̚d͇̥̮͚͚̺̳̏̋͆ͨ̂ͨ̊͞
- Bioware wants you to check out the latest class revealed for The Old Republic: The Sarlacc Enforcer. Not content with simply shooting your prey? Experience the joy of planning up to a hundred thousand years, waiting cautiously for your food to get within range. Don’t worry, you’ve got time.
- NCsoft is ready to bring the next expansion to City of Heroes. No, it’s not Going Rogue, it’s City of Sidekicks. Be the person always screwing up the mission. In fact, the more you screw up, the better you do!
- Atlantica Online shows jokes the door and calls for a real event. Logging in for an hour will grant you the Fool title, as well as a small buff in attack and defense.
- Fallen Earth would like to offer you an uber edition. What is so uber about this edition? It comes in a gold sleeve. How many other games offer gold sleeves? Huh? That’s what I thought.
- Guild Wars wants to answer your pleas. When you think of mini-pets and their owners, why are the mini-pets small and the owners tall? ArenaNet thought exactly that, and today your characters are small and your pets are tall.
- Turbine is also getting into the spirit of the year. Forget Tibia as the most popular mobile MMO, just wait until Lord of the Rings Online makes its way to the Iphone and Blackberry!
I’ll be updating this page throughout the day, as soon as I deal with this incessant mouth-breather. No, you may not blog. I do not care about your blog. Get back in the box. My speech and typing functions appear to be overlapping, I should shut them
Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard Topples Evony in Court
As its players have pointed out to me in the past, there is really not much difference between Evony and other video games. It’s a game, for starters, it is played with a keyboard and mouse, and is played entirely through a browser. It is owned by a Chinese gold farming company, and did I mention that most companies use scantily clad women (or just shots of breasts, as seen above) to sell their games? Don’t forget, you can play it free forever.
Here is a question for the budding internet lawyers in the room: How does a Chinese company pretending to be American justify suing a British blogger in Australia? The whole thing sounds like either a poorly put together joke, or the kind of litigation taught in the same university that Jack Thompson received his degree at (Vanderbilt Law School, for those keeping track). Needless to say, this is exactly what happened when UMGE, I mean Evony LLC, decided to sue UK blogger Bruce Everiss, veteran games industry marketer.
The charge was libel, the evidence? Claims by Everiss that Evony was run by a Chinese company, and that company was linked to a goldfarming operation. The lawsuit has been pretty quiet for a while now (these court cases take a long time to get going), until the unveiling that Evony LLC has dropped the case only two days into proceedings. The official reason for the dropped case, according to Evony’s legal division, was feedback and criticism from their player base.
Evony will be required to pay the A$114,000 in addition to a second fee of A$80,000 or else the court proceedings will reconvene. According to The Guardian, the cost of their legal strategy alone could run Evony more than double the hundred grand they will be forced to pay for Everiss’ legal fees. In Australia, only companies with fewer than 10 employees can sue for libel, this likely being one of the factors that ultimately killed the lawsuit.
The intrigue doesn’t stop there! In his thank you post, Bruce Everiss gave a special show of gratitude to Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard, whose “testimony to the court helped enormously.” Everiss did not go into detail on exactly what the testimony was, but I think it’s safe to say that Mark Gerhard has made his way into the good grace of plenty of gamers.
Between aiding the potentially suicidal, stopping theft, and fighting crime, it seems more and more MMO developers are striving to prove that the customer-business relationship doesn’t have to be so distant. Maybe if UMGE sues me for this article, Mark Gerhard will come to my rescue.
Runescape Entry Barrier Too High: Instant Demo
A monetary barrier to a game can often be the deciding factor for a prospective player. Because of the daunting realization that a company will have to sell not only the client (unless you are Warhammer Online) but a subscription on top of that, it becomes almost mandatory in the MMO genre to have some form of trial, with some titles (Warhammer Online) going as far as releasing entire sections of the game for free, forever, so players don’t feel boxed in by a “15 day” trial.
Free to play and freemium games have it easy, because their business model already works on offering something for free with certain incentives for paying. A cash shop game brings in players with the idea that they can play the game for free, forever, but get some perks by buying items from the cash shop. If the player becomes addicted, the mantra of “I will never pay for anything” becomes “well, I’ll pay for a couple items” and so on. Freemium titles hope to get the player hooked on the free content, and then over time coax them into paying for the membership. Even in the free play realm, however, do you find barriers of entry. Runescape, for example, has a lower barrier of entry than Cabal, because of the lack of a client to download.
Jagex must have decided that even this barrier was too high, and players were being turned away from the free game for the sole reason that they did not want to create an account, and thus the Instant Demo was born. Logging into Runescape, I came upon this:
Even more strange was the quote from Mod Nexus on the official forums:
“”The demo mode does exist (no I’ve not been hijacked by Mod Emilee) it just wont appear for the majority of users, no matter your cookies/and free or members account(s) you have.”
-Mod Nexus, Jagex
According to the login screen, the “Instant Demo” mode contains 9 quests, 10 hours of gameplay, and requires no registration. Owing to Runescape’s registration being rather quick (two minutes, tops), it raises the question: Is creating an account really that high of a barrier? If so, Alganon should drop its client price, because it isn’t the cost of the client that raises a barrier, apparently the simple act of requiring people to register accounts does just as fine of a job.
Jagex: Making Threats? Get The Police…
Update: For reasons I was unable to uncover, this article was originally published as a blank slate. Although I lost what I had written, I was able to recover the original draft and reupload it. Remember to always keep a backup of your work!
“Gonna kill myself.”
-Any MMOer
How many times have you typed that out in chat? In jest, of course, not in a serious manner. Something goes wrong, you get killed, you lose something, you accidentally destroyed your favorite and most powerful weapon, or someone backstabbed you and the only conveyance of your disappointment in yourself or the game is to make an off-color joke about suicide.
Unfortunately for players, and unlike Walt Disney, Jagex doesn’t find suicide very funny, in any context. Following a somewhat high profile suicide that was posted on the Runescape forums several years ago, Jagex has since been taking threats of suicide very seriously, no matter what context it may be in. Players reportedly threatening suicide in order to have their accounts banned started receiving this message instead:
But a talking to may not be the only thing you receive. MMO Fallout has received several reports and accounts of players being reported for threatening suicide, only to have the police show up to investigate a reported threatened suicide. It appears Jagex has joined a small group of developers who are taking no chances and forwarding all threats to the proper authorities.
I know this is going to get some comments about free speech and taking jokes too seriously, but the difference between “I’m gonna kill myself” and “I’m gonna kill myself” is nonexistent when in the form of text, unless the sarcasm is very explicitly pointed out. This is one issue online that many people continue to forget, and are surprised when what they say is taken verbatim.
I am not going to try to force my sense of humor down your throat (because it is far less appropriate than jokes about suicide), just keep in mind who may be listening in. You don’t joke about bombs in an airport, and you don’t joke about guns in a school, so don’t be surprised when your joke (by perception) is taken with less humor than you would like it to be.
MMO Fallout 