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An ode to the MMORPG
    #6256416 -

MMORPGs, are, above all else, not video games. A video game is something you play for an hour after dinner while you're enjoying a joint - or more likely, something you do when you are bored before falling to sleep. Even the multiplayer variety of video games are hardly serious in their content and skill level required to succeed in the game. The defining feature of the video game, of course, is the fact that it eventually comes to an end.

The MMORPG is something different entirely. It has no end, literally or philosophically. In theory, there is always something to do in an MMORPG that will advance your own experience in some way. Unlike most video games, success is measured in terms of cooperation and competition. To an even greater extent, success is measured by personal skill. Among any MMORPG community, those who are unable to perform their roles are harshly discriminated against and within the success-oriented context of the game, rightly so.

The first of its kind, Ultima Online, was a test run of such a concept. While successful for about 2 years. Ultima Online would quickly become overshadowed by a game called EverQuest, developed by a small company using the Quake 2 graphics engine, mimicing the massively multiplayer concept of Ultima Online but revolutionizing it. Picked up by Sone Online Entertainment, EverQuest defined a genre.

In early 1999 a group of American and South Korean gamers saw EverQuest as the ultimate playground to test the organizational skills of online gamers. This close knit group of gamers explored EverQuest content during its beta phase and when EverQuest went live, these players formed a content-oriented guild known as the Fires of Heaven, lead by an American-Iranian gamer living in Seoul, South Korea. Strictly a success-oriented guild, they were the first to complete the first MMO experience grind on public grounds when 5 different people leveled a Human Ranger to the maximum level of 50 within 4 days of non-stop game play (whereareas it took the average gamer at the time 6 months achieve level 50). Thus also began the Chinese gold revolution - that is, lower class Chinese gamers using in-game economies to profit real money. The legacy of EverQuest was lengthy. The first ninja looter (a gamer from Hong Kong known as Spinalzz) of the most progressed EQ server at the time, Veeshan, intentionally stole a piece of end game gear from a successful pick up raid in the Plane of Fear, and was ultimately tracked down in real life and subsequently threatened and harassed by several hard core raiders associated with Fires of Heaven from the same gaming cafe. EQ saw its fair bit of severe drama, especially with the suicide of Shawn Woolley, an American college student who committed suicide when nearly a year of his in-game progress was derailed by a scammer.EverQuest, as quickly as it rose, would collapse 4 years later in November 2004 with the release of World of Warcraft, a 10 year anniversary MMORPG release of Blizzard's Warcraft strategy games.

The developer's concept of the MMORPG is quite simple: Content, strategy, and balance. The vast majority of people who play MMORPG's have no interest in the lore or genre of such games. Few who play MMORPG's have any interest in Lord of the Rings or related fantasy lore. The Swords & Sorcery aspect of successful MMORPG's are merely a colorful backdrop to what is ultimately a test of organization skills in the setting of a virtual environment.

The Raid.

The Raid is what ultimately defines the MMORPG end game. The virtual "loot" is once again a backdrop, as most gamers pride themselves more on downing a particular boss as opposed to the booty they obtained from their hard earned effort. A successful raid is often full of elation at the prospect of such cooperation resulting in immense success. A successful raid illuminates those who truly shine in their talent of the game, whether it is clutch healing, unyielding tanking ability, or inflicting immense amount of damage without robbing the tank of his job. Leading a raid in an MMORPG is perhaps the ultimate test of power available to multiplayer gaming. Coording dozens of people, these days in 20 and 40 man forces, has proven to be a prerogative that only the heartless are able to grasp. All successful raid leaders will be forced to yell at someone at one point. They will also be forced to drop people who simply do not have the talent to raid. But behind the Raid leader is 39 other gamers with their own personal style of playing the game. If these 39 individuals are not coordinated to act as a single unbreakable entity, the raid will wipe; that is, 40 people suffer the humiliation of defeat to AI technology.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0nUGWtTFTY8&mode=related&search=

However, what is the de facto euphoric rush of the MMORPG phenomena is the success of cooperation - where many who are otherwise weak alone, combine the extent of their skill with others to push the limits of gaming organizations in elaborate virtual environments. Success in the raid is a result of massive cooperation, communication, and talent. Friends are made in such allegiances, and sorrow and triumph will often be shared. There is a mentality that success is measured by the notion of "We couldn't have done this without us" with eclipses just a simple "video game" into a virtue that is as old as humanity itself.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uALfReY48L0&mode=related&search=


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"Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death."

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My ode to MMORPGs [Re: Basilides]
    #6256576 -

Ultima Online was the greatest MMORPG of all time.  It required real talent and skill.  It was about PvP and not about killing AI controlled monsters.

Everquest was the worst MMORPG of all time.  WoW is just about as bad.  These games are all about getting loot and leveling your character.  Shiny new toys are the goal, so that you can kill higher level computer controlled graphic monsters.

Ultima Online developers saw the success of these mindless games and ruined UO to try to fit this mindless system of loot-getting.  It ruined the game.

Currently there are no good MMORPGs for the serious gamer.  Anyone who played Ultima Online in the good ol' days knows this is true, and forever we will lament the loss of such a great game.  :frown: :frown: :frown:

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Re: My ode to MMORPGs [Re: Amber_Glow]
    #6256593 -

Darkfall will be the new UO.


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Nothing says love like grannies prolapsed anus!

quote]Urb said:
I know... Its fucked up... Ill fix it minyana..[/quote]

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Re: My ode to MMORPGs [Re: Amber_Glow]
    #6256594 -

I played UO until some dickwad killed my donkey.

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Re: My ode to MMORPGs [Re: RoosterCogburn]
    #6256831 -

im really glad for thees mmorpg cause like, they are a perfect example of non chemical escapism, and so if we can show addicts outside of the dope community then like it might take some of the heat off because it shows that people will be unproductive in a society regardless of what is taken away from them. 'cept mmorpg gamers, i guess, still contribute to a society by buying commuter upgrades and electricity. fuck, oh well, ive been sucked into a few games, now im just afraid because i really dont want to look back and feel like ive wasted my life any more then i already have, im at threshold.

good luck with those experience points.

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Re: My ode to MMORPGs [Re: riby]
    #6256841 -

UO was the shit. I loved being a murderer in fel and owning everyone. UP had the best PvP hands down. All these other games are are for pussies. I mean look at WoW, you fucking need consent to kill someone in most areas, unless the person is in your home area, then he can't attack anyone until they attack him, which lets everyone come up and gank his ass. Not only that, but in the areas where you are free to kill you don't get shit for it but some worthless point system. In UO you could loot the fuckers and make them think twice before coming to your guild house or something. Not only that but the epic battles with the factions.. Oh man the memories.

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: Basilides]
    #6257544 -

Basilides said:
Even the multiplayer variety of video games are hardly serious in their content and skill level required to succeed in the game. The defining feature of the video game, of course, is the fact that it eventually comes to an end.




WTF?  :confused:
Multiplayer FPS is serious skills. Just try to compete on the high end level of a clanbase ladder in any FPS and you'll see how much skill it takes to pwn  :grin:
And on online FPS doesn't end untill you give up.
There's way more skill in a multiplayer FPS than in a WOW where you just click on your different magic effects and click on the monster to attack it.


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futuretribe.space

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: cybrbeast]
    #6257649 -

cybrbeast said:
Basilides said:
Even the multiplayer variety of video games are hardly serious in their content and skill level required to succeed in the game. The defining feature of the video game, of course, is the fact that it eventually comes to an end.




WTF?  :confused:
Multiplayer FPS is serious skills. Just try to compete on the high end level of a clanbase ladder in any FPS and you'll see how much skill it takes to pwn  :grin:
And on online FPS doesn't end untill you give up.
There's way more skill in a multiplayer FPS than in a WOW where you just click on your different magic effects and click on the monster to attack it.



i agree that FPS takes more skill than MMO. BUT, take WoW for example, certain spells/abilities/weapons/trinkets/etc are best used in certain situations, and knowing those situations can seperate you from the pack. so, saying that MMOs/WoW take no skill is horse bologne; they take massive amounts of timing and know-how, same as most FPS.


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https://kenaisigh.bandcamp.com/ <- Just completed the 2021 RPM challenge for February - An EP in one month (5 songs or 20 minutes). Check it out!

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: Syle]
    #6257762 -

I use to play Lineage: The Blood Pledge back in the day. I'd spend like 10-15 hours a day leveling my character. Made lots of close friends in teh game that were in my pledge and also made friends with people who weren't in my pledge.

PKs would attack us, then we'd come together as a pledge and hunt them down. We did plenty of hunting together, castle sieges, and pking people ourselves.

Anyway I loved that game and only wish i could go back in time to when all the people i knew still played.

Peace,
Droz


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Evolution of Time.

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: cybrbeast]
    #6258417 -

cybrbeast said:
Basilides said:
Even the multiplayer variety of video games are hardly serious in their content and skill level required to succeed in the game. The defining feature of the video game, of course, is the fact that it eventually comes to an end.




WTF?  :confused:
Multiplayer FPS is serious skills. Just try to compete on the high end level of a clanbase ladder in any FPS and you'll see how much skill it takes to pwn  :grin:
And on online FPS doesn't end untill you give up.
There's way more skill in a multiplayer FPS than in a WOW where you just click on your different magic effects and click on the monster to attack it.



When I think of FPS, I simply think of Boom! Head shot. FPS takes no skill as they are normally zerg/kill fests with little emphasis on endurance and class specific talent. You run around with a *drum roll* gun, and kill as many players as you can before you're eventually taken out. MMO's are not about "clicking spells". Success in MMO's is measured by how familiar you are with your class, your gear, and ultimately how well you know the opposing class. In FPS everyone has roughly the same abilities. In MMO's, each fight is always different.


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"Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is. Congratulations to the one who stands at the beginning: that one will know the end and will not taste death."

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: Basilides]
    #6258743 -

The reason UO PvP was so good was because it wasn't about gear or level. You didn't need to spend countless hours of your life in constant PvM to be able to compete. Everyone had essentially the same gear, and so it was a level playing field. Today's MMORPGs are Gear vs. Gear not Plaver vs. Player. A shame.

The memories of UO will always have a place in my heart that so far no other game has been able to compare to.

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: Amber_Glow]
    #6258828 -

uo was indeed the shit. after i quit playing that, i gave up video-games as a whole (although spent a few drunken nights playing tower attack mini-games when warcraft three came out). when i look back and realize how much time i wasted away playing uo, it makes me cringe


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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: Basilides]
    #6259378 -

I started playing UO when I was 10 years old and it is indeed the best MMO of all time. It will always have a place in my heart.


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Ishmael
http://www.ishmael.org

Ron Paul 2008!
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: Basilides]
    #6259416 -

Original Everquest on a PVP server was fun when I was... 13? 14? I dunno I stopped after a few expansions and a few pussifications of the PVP system.


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LNC's official Alaskan stoner
:jackdaniels::drooling::jackdaniels:

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: Basilides]
    #6260065 -

Basilides said:
cybrbeast said:
Basilides said:
Even the multiplayer variety of video games are hardly serious in their content and skill level required to succeed in the game. The defining feature of the video game, of course, is the fact that it eventually comes to an end.




WTF?  :confused:
Multiplayer FPS is serious skills. Just try to compete on the high end level of a clanbase ladder in any FPS and you'll see how much skill it takes to pwn  :grin:
And on online FPS doesn't end untill you give up.
There's way more skill in a multiplayer FPS than in a WOW where you just click on your different magic effects and click on the monster to attack it.



When I think of FPS, I simply think of Boom! Head shot. FPS takes no skill as they are normally zerg/kill fests with little emphasis on endurance and class specific talent. You run around with a *drum roll* gun, and kill as many players as you can before you're eventually taken out. MMO's are not about "clicking spells". Success in MMO's is measured by how familiar you are with your class, your gear, and ultimately how well you know the opposing class. In FPS everyone has roughly the same abilities. In MMO's, each fight is always different.



Again I have to disagree. Most high level FPS players hit a plateau where there shooting doesn't improve much more. After that it's all about tactics. If you play a game like Call of Duty or CS in a clan vs clan setting there's a big amount of planning and tactics. It's definitly not a fragfest when you play search and destroy in CoD. Every clan has it's own tactics and play style. It usually takes a few games for a clan to adjust to the clan they are fighting. And then a good clan will change their tactics again. There are a kind of classes in CoD, you can be sniper, a machine gunner, shotgunner or a rifler. There are smoke grenades which add a new dimension.
Then there's also games like Tribes, Return to Castle Wolfenstein or Battlefield where there are very specific classes like medic, engineer etc.

I'm not saying MMO doesn't take skill, but I'm saying FPS or RTS take a lot more skill.


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futuretribe.space

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: cybrbeast]
    #6260142 -

legends

yeah i spend alot of time playin

i like dev games more than the big daddies

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: cybrbeast]
    #6260220 -

FPS does take more skill more than MMOs. those two types of games are pretty much the only ones i play. started with everquest back in the day. played that for awhile. played counterstrike in a clan for well over 4 years. i'll still play cs now and then, just not too often. maybe once a month. i have world of warcraft too. wow really has nothing on everquest, but it's a lot harder to move back to a more primitive game once something so updated as wow comes out.

it did take me a lot longer to get good at counterstrike than it did for me to get good at any mmorpg. it's just that in MMOs, your leveling up is a real thing, that everyone can see. in FPS, everyone looks the same, no one can tell the better players from the worse until either you run into someone who's really good, or you look at the scores. you learn FPS games by trial and error really. you see some of the good players will duck, aim for the head, and shoot as soon as they see you. other good players will spray when they see you, back up, throw a flashbang, then run out shooting. other players will run around while shooting when they see you. and still others will sidestep, shoot, sidestep, shoot until they kill you. newer players will imitate the better players. in reality, there's a time and a place for each of the strategies. it's easy to gauge another player for how good he is as soon as you see him. you adjust your strategy from there. you teach yourself how to be good at an FPS game more than you do in an MMORPG. in MMORPGs classes start with only a few basic skills. in like levels 1-5 you learn which of those skills and attacks are best for when, then you get more, and you learn it gradually as your character gets better. in FPS games everybody starts with the same things to work with. new skills dont open up to you as you get better at the game. as time goes on, you just better learn how to use what you've always had.


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Not all who wander are lost - J.R.R. Tolkien

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: nightkrawler]
    #6260555 -

Exactly!


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futuretribe.space

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: cybrbeast]
    #6261122 -

Using nades in Return to Castle Wolfenstein was a fuckin' skill... It got to the point where my timing was so precise that I could just 'chunk' people without them knowing I even threw a nade. click, click, click, click, throw, BOOM. :smile:

Oddly enough, I had a screenname I used for tripping on mushrooms, playing an engineer (8 nades) and only using the nades.... Shroom KaBoom. :smile:

I think the MMORPG guys think FPS is all frags, no strategy but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Skill at shooting, moving and chucking grenades is useless when you don't know the map, and cannot adjust your stategy to make the most use of it.

I had over 50,000 kills on Wolfenstein multiplayer, but when playing on an unknown map, my skill was SEVERELY lessened.

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Re: An ode to the MMORPG [Re: RoosterCogburn]
    #6261177 -

As a gamer who plays both MMORPGs and FPS games extensively, I'm gonna have to say FPS games take more skill. Halo, Counter Strike, day of defeat... you may think you are good at these games, but until you play someone who has thrown the same amount of time into these as a lot of people have into WoW, you haven't gone against anyone.

I've been playing counterstrike every day off and on for about 6 years now, and it is very clear when someone is a new player, or when someone has been playing for a long time. THere are clans out there with people in them that could beat me without even taking any damage, repeatedly... and I'm a pretty damn good player after all these years.
There are still people out there in an elite group that are just far beyond my skill.

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