TibiaME is one of the first (if not THE first) massively multiplayer online role playing games made available for the mobile device community. Now when many of us think of MMOs, we think about vast and immersive worlds like the Eastern Kingdoms in World of Warcraft, or the awesome visuals in games like Lineage II. I am guilty of thinking of modern MMOs in this way, so an MMO like TibiaME at first glance doesn't strike me as something I'd actually play. But remember two things folks- it's not about how vivid the graphics are, and it's not about how cool the special effects are. In the end, it's about gameplay., and bringing the MMO genre to a mobile device is not only viable, but with the right gameplay, I could see gamers playing these kinds of games on mobile devices more often than they do in front of a PC or gaming console.
TibiaME reminds me of the early versions of the Legend of Zelda and the Final Fantasy series. I 'm sure many of you remember how exciting those titles were at the time. Given the fact that mobile devices currently have limited screen space and client hardware to push these titles to the limits, Mobile MMOs like TibiaME have an opportunity to captivate it's core audience with awesome gameplay.
Now that defending the mobile MMO market is out of the way, let's talk more about TibiaME. TibiaME uses the 'freemium' model- meaning that main client is F2P, but you can also purchase the gold client which offers a few more features, such as the automatically drawn maps, and a list of live players. You can also score a subscription service that take your characters to the 'premium' level, which allows you to gain full XP points on opponents defeated past level 10, board ships to premium only areas, priority access to the game servers, etc.
TibiaME runs on Java-enabled and Series 60 mobile devices, making it available to many of the phones out there, but I'm guessing that there are a few phones out there that this game is not currently supported. However, if you are one of the lucky ones, there are literally hundereds of players to meet, and plenty of quests to keep those fingers busy! Their website is tied directly into the world, which gives you 'off the device' stats that can be accessed from the site.
I started my blog off with a post about TibiaME so that readers can get a small glimpse of where mobile MMO games have started. I think TibiaME is a great example. As you might have noticed, games like TibiaME that bring a new genre of mobile gaming to the table have an interestingly similar start to the way the MMORPG genre itself started as far as look and feel. As the devices become more advanced, so will the UI, gameplay, and communication mechanisms of mobile MMO titles.
When you get a chance, check out TibiaME. No really, check it out.
Good reading.
http://tibiahelp.com
Fri Jul 24 2009 6:00AMMMORPG.com writes:
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