Funcom kicked off The Secret War a couple of weeks ago and the three factions from The Secret World are battling for world domination. But what's it all about? Find out more about The Secret War and then let us know what you think in the comments.

Two weeks ago, Funcom unleashed the precursor to The Secret World. Called “The Secret War”, the game is a Facebook type social game with players joining any one of TSW’s three factions: Templar, Illuminati or Dragon. Depending on successful world domination, players help their faction unlock unique rewards, images, movies, etc. Each week, a few lucky players are also chosen for guaranteed access to the ongoing TSW closed beta.

Read more of Suzie Ford's The Secret World: The Secret War.

Hint: Make a *cough*bogus*cough* facebook account ;).

Over 200 000 peps playing that thing now. Pretty damn hot!



Over 1 200 000 people have been viewing the material, the vids. Looks like the GW2 fanbois of mmorpg.com got PWNed. Funcom found market elsewhere. ANd a market that now seem to turn into a nice community.  Good start



http://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/169735/200000_ILLUMINATI_DRAGON_AND_TEMPLAR_INITIATES_NOW_FIGHTINGTHE_SECRET_WAR.php

Would've been great if it wouldnt require FB to begin with. There's nothing I hate more then social networks like FB.

Anyways... TSW will be a nice MMO to waste some time. Good skill-system, good crafting and decent questing. Atleast that's what you've seen in beta so far.

Originally posted by Yalexy

Would've been great if it wouldnt require FB to begin with. There's nothing I hate more then social networks like FB.

Anyways... TSW will be a nice MMO to waste some time. Good skill-system, good crafting and decent questing. Atleast that's what you've seen in beta so far.

 

Let me give you a hint... This builds community. Go over to the thesecretworld.com official forums and move to the subforum called the secret war. The 3 factions are consolidating very well and building pride/hate in just the right proportion to get some epic PvP when peps are unleashed on eachother the 19th of June. You can read in the forums how people coordinate attacks and deployment of agents here and there.

Do not underestimate the value of this community building activity over some stale pics and vids displayed for the mmorp.com crowd.

It's not terrible...it's just marketing.  I played, I got the highest level in a day, I log on to 'enter' the contest daily.  No biggie.  If you pre-ordered, you have beta access anyhow...but, this had some fun virtual items for all of 1 hr. worth of effort to hype the game.  It's a good idea and I expect we'll see more of it in the future for other games.

I just wanna play the game now...

Because it's a social networking site known for releasing what should be private information and with deplorable cyber-security practices, I had to take a pass on that. 

Fun stuff. This has been the best lead in to a game I have seen.

This stuff builds community I think... And a more deep faction rivalry thing.. I think.

Take it for what it is: a marketing and community building tool that puts a lot of hype out there.  Of course it's a crappy flash game.  Who cares?  I have a zillion people on my fake facebook account I created for this, and from time to time I log onto the secret war so that I can get a bunch of cosmetics for my toon.  The factions rage against each other on the forums, building a sense of conflict and the devs keep changing the rules to give it all a sense of urgency.  The whole time the weeks are passing until beta weekends start.  I doubt FC is looking for any more than that.

Well, I made a special FB account just for the secret war. Grabbed up about 350 quick friends, made secret agant... then FB banned the account =p

Didn't really matter bc I don't FB anyway.

With enough simple knowledge of how facebook works you

1. never post stuff on it you wouldn't be happy to have public anyway

2. set up your groups & filters so that any "game-friends" you add do not get access to anything but the bare minimum required for the game to work

There are plenty of guides around to help you do just that, & of course common sense is obligatory.

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Originally posted by DaSpack

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Originally posted by Yalexy Would've been great if it wouldnt require FB to begin with. There's nothing I hate more then social networks like FB. Anyways... TSW will be a nice MMO to waste some time. Good skill-system, good crafting and decent questing. Atleast that's what you've seen in beta so far.  

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Let me give you a hint... This builds community. Go over to the thesecretworld.com official forums and move to the subforum called the secret war. The 3 factions are consolidating very well and building pride/hate in just the right proportion to get some epic PvP when peps are unleashed on eachother the 19th of June. You can read in the forums how people coordinate attacks and deployment of agents here and there.Do not underestimate the value of this community building activity over some stale pics and vids displayed for the mmorp.com crowd.

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The Secret War is all nice and dandy, but why not simply do it as a flashbased browser game that doesn't require FB or whatever social network?

I've preordered day one allready, but I feel left out of the secret war because I hesitate to have a FB-account.

Seriously, having checked FB and several other social networks and they're far from what I'd call safe... took me around 30 minutes to gain access to content that should've been locked away for people not on the friend-list, and that's without even hacking the site, just some creative link workarounds... just sayin.

Originally posted by Yalexy

 

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Originally posted by DaSpack

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Originally posted by Yalexy Would've been great if it wouldnt require FB to begin with. There's nothing I hate more then social networks like FB. Anyways... TSW will be a nice MMO to waste some time. Good skill-system, good crafting and decent questing. Atleast that's what you've seen in beta so far.  

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Let me give you a hint... This builds community. Go over to the thesecretworld.com official forums and move to the subforum called the secret war. The 3 factions are consolidating very well and building pride/hate in just the right proportion to get some epic PvP when peps are unleashed on eachother the 19th of June. You can read in the forums how people coordinate attacks and deployment of agents here and there.Do not underestimate the value of this community building activity over some stale pics and vids displayed for the mmorp.com crowd.

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The Secret War is all nice and dandy, but why not simply do it as a flashbased browser game that doesn't require FB or whatever social network?

I've preordered day one allready, but I feel left out of the secret war because I hesitate to have a FB-account.

Seriously, having checked FB and several other social networks and they're far from what I'd call safe... took me around 30 minutes to gain access to content that should've been locked away for people not on the friend-list, and that's without even hacking the site, just some creative link workarounds... just sayin.

 

I sense the conspiracy paranoia is burried deep within this one :P I think it's a good idea they try to draw upon other usergroups through Facebook. Marketing though sites like mmorpg.com only have so much effect when most of the visitors want to play an elf.

This article has one mistake:

- FEW chosen people get access to actual closed beta tests (chosed among top scores during week)

- ALL people who accomplish SECRET AGENT rank in TSWar, which requires 600 or something points get access to all OPEN beta tests, starting 11 May

I kindly urge author to correct it.

TSW

The Same Worlds.

Hey you get a skill weel with a maze of skills, don't get lost.

What is the real check point of any new game? is there a mob tagging system or can i jump in a fight, help and get rewarded as well?

The secret war is between game company trying to get players  to sub by all means and at all cost. For now, for later, forever.

Funcom -> the secret world hyped and hyping

Fungone -> the secret world released