Nefarious Means

I'm up to no good. I want to get that out of the way right from the beginning, just so there are no questions later.

Author: madeux

I don't know how many of you have been following the game Love, but for those you haven't, head over to http://www.quelsolaar.com/ and check it out.  The game itself deserves it's own blog entry, not to mention some attention from this site in general, but that will have to wait.

Recently it was announced that Alpha testers will have to pay a very small fee.  As you can expect, there was plenty of outrage, but I was also impressed at the great number of people who were more than willing to do this.  Myself included.

This game is unlike any other out there, and is being produced by a single person.  His vision is amazing, and he has managed to draw many of us in.  Simply put, he cannot afford enough servers to accommodate the thousands who have expressed interest in testing the game, so rather than limit the numbers, there will be a small fee, barely enough to cover the cost of servers and bandwidth.

This is not like paying $50.00 bucks to test Mortal Online, or paying full price and a monthly premium to play a game like Fallen Earth that should clearly still be in beta.  If these games were more open about what they're doing, like "Love" currently is, I'd be all for it.  The honesty is very appreciated.

I believe that more indie developers will adopt this sort of model, and I'm looking forward to it.  It ensures that testers are invested into the game.  It allows "niche" games to get the support they need to get off the ground.  And as fans of less "mainstream" games, I think offering a little financial support is a great way for us to encourage the industry to support our needs.

That's how I feel about forced grouping.

Sometimes I like playing with you.  Sometimes you're ok.  Sometimes you fit right in and it's convenient.  Sometimes I'm just in the mood.

Other times, you're just too much of a hassle.  I'm in a hurry, and I don't have time to deal with you.  I like the challenge of doing things alone.

Sometimes when I go climbing, I do it as a group.  We're tethered together, and if one goes, we all go.  It can't be done alone.

Other times, it's just me and the rock.  Oh, there are other people there, we parked near each other, and might have enjoyed a chat on the way up, but when I'm at the base looking up, there's nobody else.

The best part of it this? It's all on the same mountain.  We don't have to have one mountain for groups, and one for solo players.  Everyone gets to do it how they want.  And, amazing  is it will seem to some of you, people actually CHOOSE to group up when they're not forced to.

I took a long lunch yesterday, a little later than normal, just to make sure that I was home for the Aion character preselection...

I'm not even going to play the game at launch... lol  I'm into another game at the moment, but I expect to be playing this next, and I just couldn't help myself.

I was able to snag the name "Ender" on a pair of servers, one of each flavor.

Yeah, not original... and I'll still play with a few original names that are never taken.  Am I the only one who gets some strange satisfaction over getting a name like that?

So, I bought Champions Online.  And snagged the 6 month subscription special.  I did this for two reasons.  One:  Star Trek Beta access!  I'm ashamed to admit it, but that was one reason.  Two:  I think six months is about as long as I'll ever be able to play another game.

But I think that's a good thing.  I had a blast with Aion, and honestly I'd be playing it if my two brothers didn't prefer champions.  In 6 months, if there's nothing else out there, then I'll probably spend 1/2 a year in Aion.  After that, maybe Star Trek?  Then Star Wars?  Final Fantasy?  Secret World?

How great is it that there are so many options out there?  So many games that have the possibility of being playable?  They won't all succeed, they won't all meet my expectations, much like Fallen Earth, most recently.  But that's ok.  

Is it wrong that I'm just excited to finally have some choices?