Musings and Stuff.
Random thoughts and musings.

So, another day, another blog. This time, it will focus on something that has been nagging me for a long while, but which I haven't put into words yet. This is an attitude that is growing more open in recent times, but has been there for a long while in "disguise" so to say, or rather, not as vocal as it is now.

I am talking about the people who think themselves better "gamers" or even better "people" because they like a different kind of game. Yes, you guessed it right,a bunch of the DF Gang (particularly the ones posting here, many of them at least) fall into this category, but they are not the only ones. I noticed this behaviour as well in my time in EVE Online, though, as I said, these people are not as vocal outside their own game.

Now, let me specify for a moment, what I mean here.

I am not talking about the "my game is better than your game" discussion which is silly in itself. No, I am talking about the people who actually -believe- that their taste and their desires for games are more important and also, more valid than anyone elses. I am talking about people who claim that only -THEY_ know what a good game actually is. People who are so deluded with their elitism that they seem to have forgotten that it is games we are talking about and that the one thing that defines a -GOOD- game is that it is FUN for the one playing it.

So, these days, the DF Fans come out and denounce every game out there and as if that were not silly enough, they also denounce the players of said games. They throw around phrases like "people playing WoW would not recognize a good game if it bit them", "we are the people who know how good games should look like" (obviously not quoted by the letter). And even if someone replies to that effect, telling them that they are welcome to play their game while others will play others, they reply with scathing remarks and silly little jibes.

So, why? What makes these people believe they are so superior to us? Yes, i count myself as one of the denounced side, because unlike others, I've had fun in other games and I consider them good games for that. I've had fun in (*gasp*) WoW, I've had fun in EVE, I've had fun back in DAoC and even had fun back in UO (the little while I played). So basically, all these games have been good games, since they served their purpose (in my case) well. They let me have fun and let me enjoy the gaming experience. But according to some people, that is wrong. It is -wrong- because....well, because they say so.

I enjoy diversity in games. And I know that diversity is something the MMO Market greatly needs right now. It needs a game like DF to succeed so other companies can learn from it and can adapt. The hundreds of basically same games with a different skin slapped on are already somewhat stale and that is why I wish games like DF, Earthrise and Fallen Earth and the like all the best. I hope to see them take off and succeed enough to be considered a financial success, so that larger companies will take a bite out of that and learn from them.

However that doesn't mean that i think they are the only way to go. I do not think they are the only truly, good games. They will be (/hopefully) good games, but they will serve their purpose while other games, such as WoW, WAR and the like will serve theirs. And if you are too narrowminded to accept that there's more than one "good" kind of game out there, then you should really take a step back and ponder if you are taking this all too seriously.

These are games. They are here to entertain us. Just because someone enjoys something you don't doesn't make them a less worthy person. I like classical music, other people my age joke about it because it's not exactly typical for a person my age, but I like it and I consider it truly -good- music unlike a lot of the stuff in the charts these days. Does that mean I thrash every other music because it is not composed by a genius from Austria? No, I can enjoy other music, too.

I repeat, we are talking about games. Your taste in games is not "better" than anyone elses, just different. There are measureable things in games, to measure how "good" they are. These are things like the absence of bugs, the polish of the game, the fluidness of animations etc.. This can be measured and a game with great ideas but poor execution will be a -bad- game.

But that's not what most of the people these days talk about, is it?

I have better taste than you....because I play a game with different features. Come on...who does NOT realize how silly that sounds?

So, this weekend has brought us all something many did not expect, others prayed for and still others were certain would be ground-breaking. A new sort of life-sign from Darkfall, a large, HD Video, taken, as stated, 100% in game with Developers behind the controls of the characters seen.

And now, the Forums have been in an uproar all the last two days. Threads have been started about the same topics numerous times, and the praise for the game has, in some cases, gone far beyond the realm of the appropriate, as has the oftentimes ludicrous counter-wave to said claims. It's an all out fanboi-vs-hater war all right, with everything such a war needs and....boy doesn't this sound familiar?

With little to nothing as proof, people claim this game will be awesome. Those same people claim it will be a game that people like me (unimaginative, lazy people with no taste whatsoever) will never be able to play, because it takes so much more skill than any other game out there. They proclaim that their game is much better than any other (even though not they nor anyone else have ever played it so far), their tastes are better and they are the only ones whose opinion counts in this matter. The zealousness with which this game is being hyped is astounding to say the least.

In part, I can understand that. DF promises to be what many many "veteran" gamers have been looking for for a long long time. It promises to be a huge world where the player is the one shaping the world with unparalleled freedom and by the strength of his/her skill alone. It's appealing, it is promising...

It is also much too early to say anything apart from: "This looks promising." followed by "Let's see how it actually turns out."

Of course, people do not like to hear that. Some of them anyway. The merest notion that something could be wrong with the game is summarily dismissed by some. Some claim that even masses of bugs would not make this game bad, simply because of the concept behind it. But mostly, the people place their full faith in the Developers to "do things right", despite having no evidence that they are doing so in many cases.

So, Darkfall is a new hope for many people. It is a "beacon" of hope for those who enjoy sandbox, and sandbox only. It promises to deliver what the market may very well need. A breath of fresh air. If it can live up to the promises, it might just make other companies see and might just cause changes in titles yet to come. We can hope for that. I hope for that.

The Hype that is now starting to surround this game is growing and growing and with it come all the hallmarks of over-hype. I caution everyone to fall into the same trap that many (myself included) have fallen for in the days gone. Until I am play-testing the finished, polished game for free, I will remain a skeptic and continue to point out possible problems with the game. And there are possible problems. Even if people don't want to see them or gloss them over with the best and final argument of the DF Crowd "Gameplay is everything".

Until the game has delivered on all of its promises (or at least, most of them), it remains just that.

A Hope.

Yes, I must be. I am playing and enjoying Age of Conan.

Why? Very simple. I came to this conclusion after quietly reading these forums for a while. No, I am not going to say these Forums are riddled with posts that are painful to read (I'll hold my opinion on that to myself), but I am talking about the apparent -fact- that I am playing a game that is so obviously total crap and BS and broken everywhere and so on and so forth, yet I am having fun with it. So the obvious conclusion is, I am a masochist! I love torturing myself through endless broken quests, love waiting for non-existant support and love, getting stuck everywhere, plus I love grinding without sense, I love being banned without reason and I love a lagfest!

Or do I?

Now don't get me wrong. This is not a place to slander all those of you, who certainly have valid problems with the game, be it that you simply don't like it, or that you encountered a huge bug that entirely broke the game for you.

I am talking about all these people, I won't give names, but you will know them, who keep posting in every thread that crops up and proclaim that the game is so bad, that, according to them, anyone playing it, must be an idiot. I mean, judging from what these people are spouting, there is simply -NO- way that -ANY- sane person could -EVER- enjoy the game now.

So why then, am I having fun?

Is it because I am trying to shy away from the truth? Do I -force- myself to play the game even though, deep down, I really do not enjoy it? Am I blinding myself to the truth that others, so vocal in their crusade to convert everyone, have long accepted and made their own? Me, and the other people in my guild? And the people on my Friends-List? And the friends playing on other servers.

Or could it be that I am not blinding myself, but that I am enjoying the game nonetheless? That I have yet to encounter game-breaking bugs? That I actually like the graphics, the combat, the mechanics and the content offered? Could that really be?

Do you think there might be people out there who do not share other people's opinions? Could that REALLY be?

Think about it for a moment, and look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself why you think you hold the universal truth to people's joy and fun in games. Ask yourself why you think your opinion, or that of anyone else for that matter, is in any way important to another person. Ask yourself if you don't want to change your tone of posting, your way of expressing your discontent, and instead of painting everything in your, personal view, and making it the ultimate truth, allow others to have their own opinion, without trying to make them look like idiots.

Frankly, I am sick and tired of replying to people that continue to slander the -players- of AoC as idiots because they are enjoying the game that they are playing. Or postulating that they are helping a company rip the gamers off. Or claiming only their version of reality is the true one.

Again, I do not mind people giving valid reasons for quitting, nor do I mind people not liking the game. It's the people who seem to be on a crusade to "save" all the others from a horrible game that can't possibly be enjoyed that bug the hell out of me.

As a prefix, no, I'm not a person that has played UO from the very beginning and spent millions of hours inside it. I did dabble in UO a little back in the day, but since it was at a time in my life where many changes occured to me, I could never devote nearly enough time to such a game at that point. That changed when DAoC hit the shelves, which I played for  quite a while.

Anyway, the point of this Blog is a simple question. How have MMORPG Gamers changed over the years?

I ask this mainly due to one reason.

Today, the people, the community attached to all MMO's seem to be riddled with a vocal subsection that is increasingly loud in both volume and slander.

Let me go into a little more detail here. When I was first playing UO, even for the little time I did, I had a certain sense of the community. I talked to some people and listened to others talk, I read community sites and so on and so forth. In short, even in a short amount of time, you get a sort of picture of the community if you decide to look for it, and of course that was doubly so in the games that came after that for me.

Did I ever hear people slandering other games? Mhh, not that I can remember. Certainly not to the degree that it is done today. I can't remember one instance where, for example, people in DAoC were ranting constantly about how much UO is a crappy piece of game. Or vice versa. Sure, there were some remarks and maybe even the oddball thread dedicated to the issue, but it was kept in boundries, it was small.

And today. Look at what we have today. Seriously, you'd think the people playing MMO's are a bunch of zealots dedicated to their one true god (their game), and anything that is not their game has to be attacked, slandered, destroyed. Any person playing any other game has to be cleansed, has to be made miserable for even considering playing another game and enjoying it, has to be branded heretic to the true spirit of the God! The amount of the people with this kind of attitude is simply starting to stagger me lately.

It seems as though gamers these days are incapable of allowing others to have their fun without trying to make them look like idiots for obviously not seeing the Light. Anything not conforming to those gamers view of MMO's will be disregarded or ridiculed. No matter where you look, it seems the same, no matter which game you go to, if you look at the official boards (or unofficial in some cases), it's a festival of insulting each other.

So why is that? I realize that, even today, these people are not the majority, but they have grown so much louder (and more numerous) within recent years. Some will claim WoW is responsible for it all (because after all WoW is responsible for everything bad in terms of MMO's ^^), some will say that's just the effect of a growing community.

But why does it have to be that way? I'm not against competition. A healthy dose of competition is certainly needed to make things work overall, but does competition have to equal a state of continual warfare between gamers? Have we indeed reached a point where it is impossible that people simply realize that others might have differing views and allow them those views without trying to discredit them and make fun of them?

I look at these forums and even though realizing it only represents a small faction of the whole, it is sad to see the amount of pure venom running through the posts. People unable to accept that other people might be having fun in a game that they could not grow to like. Unable to cope with different opinions thus they must be attacked and destroyed by any means possible. And I am not talking about people giving honest reviews and posting negatives about any given game. Critique is a wonderful thing in itself, but you have to agree that what some people do these days goes beyond mere critique. It's pure hatred.

This is not just a subject for the huge flame-war around AoC and certainly not just aimed at those attacking this game. It is as much aimed at some of those "defending" it, at others attacking different games and still others "defending" those. It's an all out state of misery as I see it and I really have to ask myself...

What happened to the community to have changed so? Was I blind before? Is it the rapid growth? They say Growth sometimes hurts. If that is the case then I can only hope that eventually, these things will return to their smaller, quieter levels in the future. Until then, I'd urge certain people posting on these boards and on other MMO's boards, just take a moment to think before you post yet another attack that proves only one thing:

That you can't be happy with others having fun where you can't.

I am puzzled.

First off, let me say I greatly enjoy playing Age of Conan. I am having tons of fun with my gf, exploring the world, killing things and players and generally enjoying the beauty of the game in itself. Second, I know there are many others like me. I talk with them in game, I see their comments in the OOC Chat, I read their posts in various forums. I am not alone with my enjoyment of the game.

Now, of course there are people who are complaining. There always will be, but from what I see and hear, I think the game got off to a rather decent start.

Which brings me to why I am so damn puzzled.

The decisions of the FunCom PR team are slowly reaching the borders of...incompetence? I suppose that's the best word to use right there. With their recent announcement that DX10 won't be in game till Q3 this year, they've really struck another chord of disgrace right there.

Why? Why come out two days after Early Access is opened and divulge this information? Fanbois will say, because they only now realized they can't patch it in till full retail. I call BS on that. If they would delay it for a week or so, I could believe that, but they are delaying it for 3 -Months-. That's not something you realize just a few days ago. If they have 3 Months worth of work to do, they knew that before then.

The haters will, sad as it is, most likely have it right. FC feared losing subscriptions if they announced that their game would launch without one of the prominent features implemented. Thus, they decided to wait until the Pre-Orders were shipped out before announcing this. While Sieging and Spellweaving are in and they at least managed to quiet the fronts there a little, this then, has given haters a whole sack-full of ammunition for their attacks on the game.

And the worst thing about it? I am rather sure it was not needed. The game is a good one. As I stated above, I enjoy playing it and it looks very pretty already and I am -not- alone with this. Maybe they would have lost a few subscribers, but in the long run, won't they lose more by distributing information like they did in this case?

I don't know, I am not a marketing expert, but it seems to me all that FC accomplished with this little stunt, is to aggrevate people. Not because they really miss DX10 in the game, because as I said, the game looks beautiful even without it, but because of the incredibly horrible PR work that is being shown here.

I for one will continue playing the game. Because it is fun and I am enjoying it greatly and I believe the development team at FC have done an incredible job in their own right.

But I would suggest to FC to put a close glare on their PR department from now on. Many of the decisions made by the Public Relations Department recently have only caused a whole lot of damage and if this continues, a good game will die, not because of game-breaking bugs or missing content or missing polish...

But because of the way information is handed to the players.