Blaugust Day 7: Game Lore

Good morning (or afternoon) good readers. I have no planned posts today, nothing ready that is. There’s some I’m making for later like an art trade and a Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 thought post, but alas they’re not ready. So today I plan on pulling a subject from where the sun don’t shine and talk about that.

And the subject is… MMO Lore; Come on down!

If you’re not up-to-speed on my blog, I’d point out that game mechanics are my thing. Lore of a game doesn’t usually fall into that, but it’s very important nonetheless. However, I have a confession to make, I’m not very good at following it. What I mean is that I love EverQuest, EverQuest 2, Guild Wars 2 and even Champions Online (please don’t kill me), but I couldn’t really tell you the lore off the top of my head.

EverQuest is something about gods made the planet and we are fighting them? I think?

EverQuest 2 is… um… about 500 years after EverQuest… or maybe an alternate universe? The gods are gone and now it’s dragons that attack the citizens in the most recent story.

Guild Wars 2 is about the races of Tyria protecting their way of life from dragons that rebalance the magic of the world. Ok, I know more about GW2, but that’s because I actually wiki’d some of it to know what’s going on.

Yoink! My chicken now.

Champions online is about looking cool and coming up with another character concept. Well, that’s what I use it for anyways, and to find if people made stories in their info window (which bugs out and comes up blank sometimes >:( grr).

That all said, I’m actually very curious and wanting to know the lore, problem is that most games don’t really convey it well to the player during play. The NPC’s can try and tell it to you, but it’s usually hidden within a block of text where you’re only interested in finding the quest.

But what’s the point in showing a problem if I offer no solutions?

The most fun way to learn about lore, for me, is have it included in the quest itself and don’t just give me one objective, give me a couple to choose from so I’m more engaged. If I have to decide what to do, I’ll take in what it is I’m doing, instead of mindlessly following quest objects. Kill 5 wolves, will do. Now it wants me to kill 10? Fine, whatever, I’ll just do it. If it says Kill 5 wolves, or teach the farmers how to fight, then that tells me, hey, I’m helping farmers defend their homes from wolves. GW2 does this with their heart quests.

So lore, I’m talking to you now. I’ll spend more time taking you in and understanding what it is you’re telling me. Maybe even help convey you to others in a more fun way.

Blaugust Day 6: My first day in an MMO

During my reading of Blaugust posts, I came across Jaedia’s writing prompt on her Day 2 post from Dragons & Whimsy; Tell us about your first day in an MMO. How did you feel? What did you do? Who did you meet? What sticks in your memory, in particular?

This sounds like an excellent blog post, one I’ll use. Thanks, Jaedia.

Going back, my first MMO was Everquest. The King of MMOs (at the time). I remember my brother telling me about it since he had a bit of a head start on it. After a little while, I watched him play some, and not long after that, I wanted to play too. He only had his account and let me create a character on it. That character? A wood elf bard starting in Kelethin; The easiest city to fall down and go splat in. And that’s exactly what happened.

I remember when I first started, I logged in and was looking around on the first platform, reading my guild paper and then trying to look around. I don’t know how, or why, but I was on the side ledge of one of the buildings outside, looking through the window. Eventually I lost my foot and got my first free teleport out of town.

Kelethin
Click me to listen to the theme song

Now, the respawn wasn’t very far, but it was on the ground, below the city. I didn’t notice I was even below it. Five minutes into the game and I was lost, cold, broken, scared and alone in a dark and cruel zone where wondering orks would come by and kill us newbies. But I was saved, as a very kind cleric decided to take pity on me and asked if I was new. That was my first interaction with another person in a game. I was blown away when my brother told me it was another person. I obliged and told them I was lost and looking for a way back to the city. Ten feet later and they showed me the lift that would take me back up.

My first experience didn’t end there - they asked if I had any questions… and boy did I. I think I sat with them for about half an hour (could have been a full one), and afterwards they invited me to their guild. It was ran by herself and her husband at the time. As a final gesture of awesomeness, she gave me 5 gold. That was a crapton for me on a new character where everything was costing me copper.

That was very important to me as it set the tone for who I wanted to be in games. I passed on the awesomeness to others who some then passed it on as well. I offered to make food for free to just about anyone, and sold leftovers on the bazaar. I offered to transfer items between characters before the shared bank was made. I also tried to help my guild any way I could. They were a bunch of great people.

This first experience had a profound effect on me and my understanding of games and had since made MMOs my most favorite genre of all.

Hail, kind adventurer. Need a lift?

You can find more about Blaugust at the 2015 Blaugust Initiative Page.

Screen Share: The Adventurer's Home (Blaugust Day 5)

The Adventurer's Home

It’s dark, but dry and warm; a welcome change from the frigid weather you braved outside. As you take in the new setting, you can smell the wood burning in the pit, along with the tantalizing aroma of the boar that was roasted not long ago. There was a noticeable hush when you entered, no doubt everyone taking in your appearance.

As you find your way to the nearest empty table, the quiet broke and returned to the low rumblings of combined chats. It was a welcoming sound.

“What’ll it be?” Startled, but you held back any signs of it.

“Food and a room.” No need to give much more detail than that. These taverns only serve what’s cooked for the day and all the rooms are the same. No need for complicated answers, just the way you like it; simple.

Some folks you know would be finishing up the day, settling down with their family, eating their dinner after prayer, having a lovely chat. Sickening. These people are the definition of boredom. Not for you. Time to fill your stomach, pay your ten, and rest for the next few hours. Welcome to the Adventurer’s Home. Heck, maybe you might get an unexpected assassin during the night. That would be a nice surprise.

You can find more about Blaugust at the 2015 Blaugust Initiative Page.

Blaugust Day 4: Dev's Avoiding the term MMO

I was scrolling through my favorite MMO news site, Massively Overpowered, when I came across this story about Dev’s avoid using the term MMO. This actually made me angry.

Tyrannodorkus Angy!

The MMO genre is one of the best in the video game industry, to me. It encapsulates so many mechanics that single player games would be paralyzed trying to add to their game, and they allow for so many players that cooperative and competitive games can’t match. This genre is huge in ideas and abilities.

Now with developers actively avoiding the use of the term MMO to describe their game, I get angry because developers and companies for years have been flooding the market with clones and unfinished dung and now that they made that term unwelcomed they won’t even credit it. So now they decided to continue making the same old same old, and insulting us by trying to say they aren’t. It’s infuriating.

I love this genre and it deserves a lot better. I will continue calling these games how I see it and won’t let these dev’s try to pee on me and call it rain.

You can find more about Blaugust at the 2015 Blaugust Initiative Page.

Arbitrary #: Wish list for Elder Scrolls 7 (Blaugust Day 3)

Top 10 lists, best 7, 12 things you didn’t know. Lists, people love them, and love to hate them, but they draw attention and make things simple. I personally see them as cheap ways to grab attention, but I fall for them when they hit a subject I like. So this is going to be my cheap attempt at a top 10 wishlist of what I’d like to see the next Elder Scrolls game to have, but in a non-traditional list standard.

#1) Cooperative game play

I was always wanting to adventure with someone in Tamriel, but not under an MMO ruleset. My wish is to play in an open world environment that can be completely modded and shared with just a couple of people. If ZeniMax Online Studios is the only people that will offer this, then maybe they can read my post from yesterday and maybe get me closer to this wish.

#B) Fully Customizable Housing

This is something I would love to have. I can see it now; mining ore and chopping wood, crafting boards and beds and then picking a spot of where I want to live. Back in Morrowind, I loved the idea of living in one of the many caves that snaked throughout the island. The only issue is that I couldn’t really modify it except for dropping my ill-gotten gains.

#ZZ-Top) More Non-Combat Spells

Back in my Dungeon and Dragon days, my favorite character was a sorcerer that I played where half of my spells were utility. I could summon missiles and fireballs, but I could just as easily summon a log cabin, repair clothing or even teleport. Heck, I’d just appreciate games spending more time on non-combat stuff in general, but I added it to this list. Bethesda or Modding Community, please get on that.

#Red) Bring Followable Religions and Factions back

Morrowind was awesome back when I could follow the church or the local religion. I could follow the fighters guild and the east empire trading company. I could follow one of the local houses of power. In Oblivion and Skyrim, they just tried to simplify it far too much, reducing the choices to make it more accessible. We need our choices again.

#UNDEFINED) Full VR and AR support

This list is for a game that isn’t out or even announced yet, so why not make a leap and say that virtual reality and augmented reality will be a thing by then and I for one would love for it to be fully supported in this game.

#Square) A New Setting

It looks like Fallout handles their futuristic, steampunk and post-apocalyptic settings all in one game. Maybe Elder Scrolls 7 can add something new to the fantasy setting. I’m not sure yet, but something. Space? How about space? Yeah, lets go with space fantasy. It worked for Star Wars.

#Threeve) Animal Companions

Forever now I’ve wanted a game where I could be like the Beast Master with his ferrets. They’d crawl over him or rest in his bag, and when he needed them, they’d come out and get the job done. They didn’t run 5 feet behind him endlessly, they didn’t appear or disappear from a whistle, and they didn’t fight with him (mostly). They were cool and I wish games would come up with an animal companion that interacted with you more and wasn’t a combat meat shield.

##) Multiple Main Characters

How cool would it be to create different heroes that you had grouped with each other or switched between during the story? Yeah, I can think of many occasions I wished I could have one character over another for different missions. Or had them wait while I took the scout ahead and disarm traps or open a door from the other side. Group diversity is more fun to me than an all-in-one hero.

#:P) More Stable Game

Okay, okay, this is a nitpick here, but I’d sure like to play the game with less worry that it would crash on me. I know you can’t fully optimize this because you have to still leave it open for modding, but this is a wish list after all and I’m including it.

And Finally ...

#1) Include Modding For Consoles

I’m a PC gamer through and through, but I always feel bad when my gamer from another name brand-er is left out in the cold and can’t enjoy the euphoria that is mods. I’m not entirely sure how this can be accomplished, but I believe there is always a way. Bethesda, ZeniMax, Gaming Gods, please hear my plea and let my people play!

That’s it for my first list. Take it as serious or as silly as you want, I don’t judge. Was there anything you’d like for the next Elder Scrolls game to have?

You can find more about Blaugust at the 2015 Blaugust Initiative Page.

Mechanic Blueprint: Mods and MMOs (Blaugust Day 2)

Mods and MMOs; two things that seem incompatible with each other. But what would you say if a developer asked if your favorite MMO should have Mods? I’d definitely say ‘Heck Yeah!’ That’s not what this post is about though. This is actually a ‘how’ post, as in ‘how the heck do you include mods in a game that’s connected to thousands of people at the same time?’

There’s a couple ways you can mod a game; personal modding where only you see, and shared modding that every sees. The question behind it is when to use which method. Well, voice in my head asking these convenient questions, let me explain.

Personal Modding

Personal modding, in my use of the phrase, would be making changes that only affect the client side of the game. The client side being what you play through at home. In an MMO environment, the only things you can change here is what is already available to you in the game. Items including the UI, color palettes, graphics like lighting and shadows, and available assets included in game like armor meshes and textures. Meshes are the 3D model of the object and textures are the skin of the object.

A Fallout Texture Example

So an example would be someone modding their UI to alter its position, size or data it shows. They could also use an ENB to enhance the colors and look of the game. Finally, they could use something that changes the textures on armor to be of higher resolution, or change its look. This should only change what the player can see on their computer.

Some issues with this would be in competitive environments. This means players would be giving themselves advantages that aren’t shared between the other players. One way to solve that is disabling personal mods while in a PvP area.

This is the best way to let people in non-competitive environments improve or own the game world a little more in their own way. It opens up the game to the player to modify and make it fresh, giving more control to the players to produce their own content and adding longevity to the game.

To use Skyrim as an example (not an MMO though), I’ve spent almost a week’s worth of time remodding the game for my return. I’ve played that game to death, and yet, I’m still finding something new to do in there.

Shared Modding

Shared modding would be modding where when you change something, it changes it for everyone else. This has been a roadblock and what everyone thinks of when asked if you should mod MMOs. That’s not to say it can’t be done, just needs to be thought out creatively.

My Necro is a hoarder :(

How you can accomplish shared modding would be in smaller controlled zones. This would be where players can control what is changed and show to others. Instance zones is what I’m thinking here, zones like housing instances and player created dungeons.

The next hurdle is how do other people get these mods? I found a wonderful solution while playing Space Engineers. Steam uses the workshop as a library of mods to pull from. You subscribe to what mods you like from the library, bring up the game, select which mods you want to use, start the server and anyone that joins will then pull from that same library. What MMOs can do is setup a dedicated server library where players can submit their mods to. The company will then need to moderate and accept what is submitted; this will cost money, but I think it would be worth a look into its possible return of investment if it can keep player retention. Players then will select which mods they want to use from the official library and use them in their instance housing or player made dungeon and any player that is attempting to enter these instances will then pull from that same library to load the zone.

Marge, why are we in space? And can you reach that beer?

One of the hurdles here would be trolling (which is possible anyways in player housing, but this removes more control from the developers so I can see their apprehension). My solution is to give players an option that comes up to let them know they are entering a modded zone and to proceed or decline.

I’m sure there can be a lot more brainstorming done for this concept, but I hope this at least can get the ball rolling. I love my MMOs, and I love modding. Let’s find a way to join the two and enhance this genre even more.

You can find more about Blaugust at the 2015 Blaugust Initiative Page.

Blaugust Day 1: D-Day

It’s that time of year again. “What time is that”, you say? It is but August, and I would say ‘Nay nay’! It’s actually Blaugust! Since I’ve started blogging around February and joined the blogosphere around May, I haven’t joined Blaugust until this year. It’s not the first year I’ve heard of it, though.

The rules are pretty simple; post something every day of August as much as you can. 31 posts in all if you complete it 100%. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. The challenges ahead are vicious, between carpal tunnel and leg cramps to writer's block to cabin fever just sitting around thinking of something to say. Now, I could just go on and on with nonsense and post mind gibberish, but my challenge is to get back on track with posting regularly and to refocus back on MMOs. My game plan is to try and set up a few posts ahead of time and have them set to publish once a day so I’m ahead of the curve. My second challenge is making my rounds more often and supporting other blogs as well with comments, likes and shares.

With my goals laid out, and a plan made, I’m ready for Blaugust. Let’s all make the best of it and take out what we can put in. Above all else, let’s have fun.

You can find more about Blaugust at the 2015 Blaugust Initiative Page.