I certainly miss CoH.

One thing I really see when I have tried out other games, none of them do as many of the things CoH does well. Sure, a game might do one or two things better but then just fail on something else.

On the topic at hand. It smells much like how Magic the Gathering was such a big deal in the mid 90s. As someone who opened a couple of pallets of Magic cards, that chapter of my life is long since over. There are many gamers from that era who probably remember that quite well and really hate the pay to win formula. Its probably why a deckbuilding game with no collection aspect was such a big hit (well that and it is a good game).

People certainly have a "gambling" bug in them and there are folks who just can't stand having a goodie box mocking them and sitting there in their inventory unopened.

Did you ever play UO? If not, why not? If so, what is your opinion as a player of the experience?

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Originally posted by apocoluster
     Hi Positron and welcome to the site.  So my question:

 

  My 2007 Hyndai Accent GLS has this awful shudder  when ever I get it above 3k rpm.  Checking the tranny fluid..no metal shards and no shards in the filter.  What should be my next area to check?  :)

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If it is the engine, then it is the crank shaft position sensor 275 dollar repair, if the trans is doing it, that is going to be the torq-converter, depending on your type of trans 575-2500 repair. My advise is if you don't have the 100k warranty on the vehicle it is time to trade it in, asap.

Posi--I mean--Matt Miller.  Welcome to Thunderdome!  By the way, that hat is rude man...it's awesome!

I guess the question I would ask you is how an MMO can be made as a means of self-expression.  CoH did this very well.

An example would be systems that would allow you to create a character with the backstory you want.  Relating this to the hat, CoH allowed me to create a character named "Two Tone Rudy," a skanking rude boy with dual pistols.  His "superpower," if we were to call it that, was turning from a white man into a black man and back again.  This was a blessing or a curse that was put on him by a Rastafarian priest as a punishment for running around with racist skinheads in Manchester.  Two Tone Rudy now goes to Paragon City to stamp out racial injustice wherever it stands.

Now I don't know if any other game could allow me to play a character like that.  But CoH--if it did anything right--allowed players to create all kinds of superheroes by using the tools that were there: the AE, the costume creator, and the bases.  What are some of the things developers can do to create this kind of self-expression in the games?

Hail and well met good sir! Judging by your past game selections (Very similar to my own) and your experience in actually developing MMOs I look very forward to reading your upcoming columns!

I believe that someone already asked this but  I'm curious as well, are you planning on jumping back in to the development of any more games or MMOs, or perhaps you already have?

Cheers!

Hail, and welcome!

Q:

Why has it taken a better part of decade (if not nearly 2) for you developers to grasp the fact that "themepark" is not the only right course of action?!

Was this because of World of Warcraft's success? (don't lie, be honest)

Hi Matt,

Welcome.  Are you related to Marc Miller of the Traveller universe?

What features or characteristics of the other MMOs you played that you like or would want to integrate into future games you work on?

Hello and welcome.

I played CoH the first year it was around and really enjoyed it, and came back for another spell after CoV was released. It stands out as one of the most unique game experiences I ever had: gearless, extremely customizable characters not just with respect to costume choices, unique modern city environment, interesting missions, first game to use sidekicking and the like that I know of, attracting one of the nicest player communities I ever knew, etc.

I would like to know why you developed CoH/CoV in this way? What was the reasoning for employing the gearlessness, the emphasis on customizability, the world based on and in one city, the mission structures, etc.

It is a shame that more games won't use ideas from CoH/CoV because they were truly awesome.

Glad to see a fellow developer willing to talk to the general gaming community. I give you credit my friend for the attempt. Even though I'm a mere Indie developer on a unnamed kickstarter project, I welcome your professional insights and thoughts on the subjects you choose to speak about.

I feel if more professional game developers were willing to wade in the mud and come here, they would be surprised and even amazed at how informative a great many players here are.

Hi and welcome Matt, it will be great to read your colums.

I think I pass on the lockboxes / lootboxes question, my opinion about those would contain a lot of <mod edit phrases> :) I don't like gambling.

Since you wrote you played STO too, I'd like to ask about the Architect vs. the Foundry. (It also came up in a Neverwinter topic as well, namely that STO's Foundry is more about the missions and the lore, while Architect was used mostly for farming.)

I wonder, it was a specific developer's decision to allow the Architect working this way, or just a coincidence? Since it's quite easy to gate farming, it was pretty certain that you designed Architect as a parallel levelling route. I'm just curious, if that's correct, what was the reason behind it?

(don't get me wrong, I played a lot with the Architect, it was just a bit sad that it's potential was used mostly for farming and only the smaller group used it for story archs and mission building...)

It's very nice to see that you're still around Posi.  Even though I didn't really play CoH very much in the past year or so, I miss it enough now that it's gone that I regret that I didn't play more.  Wish I was more active in the community too.  I never managed to get a FPARN or a reply from a red name.

Just two questions for you here at the moment, if you don't mind answering.

1.  Do you know where the other developers of CoH ended up at, such as War Witch and Synapse?  You guys were a great team and it'd be a shame to hear if they're no longer in the business, but my curiosity demands I ask.

2.  Which current MMO out there do you think plays the most like CoH?  It doesn't matter if the theme is super heroes, fantasy, or what, I'm just asking gameplay.  Simple, easy to learn gameplay that feels rewarding whether you jump in for half a hour or all day with tons of possibilities of how you build your character in terms of appearance and abilities.  I'm playing Aion right now, and while it's fun in it's own way, it's barely like CoH at all.

Hi Matt. Welcome.  Its really great to be able to get insight from an 'inside' man.  I completely understand that games (and most products) are made to make money.  My question is at what point does the goal or making money overshadow the innovation of creating something new?

It comes across (from my perspective) that investors want to make money so they give it to a development studio, who lets say try to make something completely different, only to be told (my assumption) by investors that they dont think that the right direction and then copy something existing.

If they truly want to make money wouldnt it stand to invest in new ventures rather than supporting old ones?  How can things change if they wont?

Also along the lines of money, what is your feeling on the future of crowdfunding/kickstarter?  Do you think it could go mainstream or will the larger publishers/investors crush it?

Thanks and look forward to your column

Regards,

Hello Positron,

I'm really looking forward to reading your column and getting insights that can only come from someone that's worked in the industry.

Years ago MMOs were all about creating a world that you could explore and live in. Sandbox systems, like SWG's crafting and CoH's Mission Architect, were staples. More recent MMOs are almost pure themeparks with little/no sandbox features.

Q: Why do most game devs seem so reluctant to provide sandbox systems in game? (Beyond the obvious - "WoW doesn't have it.") Especially given the spectacular failures of several on-the-rails themepark MMOs recently.

Thanks. - Peregrine Falcon

Hey Positron, I got a couple questions.

The first is, was CoH profitable, and do you believe ncsoft chose not to salvage it rather than being in a situation where it was simply unsustainable.  I imagine if you wanted to answer that question you would have already, but in case no one else is asking, I have to.

The second is, what server on DAoC?  Would rock my socks if you were on nimue way back lol.

My big why question would be, WHY do Western MMORPG companies go to a FREEMIUM model when Asian and even some Euorpean FREE 2 PLAY games make so much more money?

Nexon is now the second most profitable gaming company on the planet with over 1 billion in PROFITS for 2 straight years and most than half of that money is coming from their F2P games, just looking at company earnings reports F2P games like Atlantica Online, which, lets face it, is NOT a good game. Its very basic, the combat is a great change of pace mind you but overall the game is a joke compared to top quality games...yet for some reason the game has been a CASH COW making almost every single FREEMIUM game look bad in terms of revenue.

So, why do western companies go...half assed about it? The market proves that F2P generates more money when done right...and with average to poor games. While CoH did have near a F2P quality item shop...the "premium" aspect drove the vast majority of the F2P market away. These people dont want to join a game where they will be second class citizens to those paying for a premium account and defeats the very purpose of playing a game calling itself free.

So many western games that are now using the "freemium" model could be dominating the F2P market in terms of revenue yet are not due to this idea that they will somehow be able to trick enough people into subbing for their game that was never popular in the first place...such a shame.