What's in a name? That which we call a rose....and all that jazz. Name's, more importantly player character names and myself. What drives me to choose the names I do and what names I choose truly vary from game to game.

I am a consummate roleplayer. I tabletop game at least 4 nights a week with friends and family I have been gaming with for years on end. And so for me, each character takes the stage in their own way. But I do have some regular names as well as naming conventions I can pop out there.

My names, the ones that mean something to me....Cailieg would have to be one of them, as well as Caille. They both have deep meaning to me. Cailieg, was my first mispelling of a Scottish Gaelic word as a child. I was the little girl who always spelled girl wrong. Caileag is little girl, but for some reason when my Grandfather was teaching me Gaelic, I always mispelled it. Later in my teens I would choose to use this as one of my first online handles. And it's been with me as my primary online handle since.

Caille on the other hand originates from my Browncoat Persona for con going. I'm a big Firefly fan, Can't Stop the Serenity every year and all that. But Mal Reynolds or a member of his crew I am not. It is not in my nature to mimic someone else's character. And so I am drawn to either nameless costumes, Stormtrooper, Royal Guard, Browncoat, etc or no costume at all. Because I cannot get behind dressing like a character I in no way resemble physically. To this end I always make up my own characterizations and my Browncoat ID and dogtags read Caille Jensen, Independent, Overlanders, 22nd Air Support. At Du Khang my unit supplied air cover and one of my ground men fought alongside Mal's crew. At Serenity Valley we were one of the units told to turn back and watch our men burn. Anyway I am waxy geeky here....

Other names I have used and the why's....

Draegoth- Respelling of Dregoth from Dark Sun Tabletop DnD Campaign Setting, used for my Belf Mage in WoW yes as a chick I sometimes play male characters, depends on my mood and the character creation screen.

Magnus Maximoff- also known as Mystik, made for CoX, and in a certain unamed game I might or might not be testing, based on a tabletop character I played who was the son of Wanda Maximoff, The Scarlet Witch.

Arya/Aryalla- Based on the character Arya Underfoot from Song of Fire and Ice.

Cyndane- Wheel of time inspired name.

Zamir- Used for a character who was inspired by Elric of Melibone on Aion only because Elric was taken and I was going for "can I make x character and make it look right with this awesome character creator.....(this name is the name of a Galactic Conciousness in our meta-cosmology explanation for tabletop crossovers)

Other than than I have a tendency toward names beginning in M and D. And Ending in A and I when I spit out random fantasy names.

Alexis Diana Dority

*smiles*

Player Versus Environment can easily be taken into non combat contexts. So no, NPCs are not integral to PvE as per the definition of the acronym.

Alexis

*smiles*

46 mins to go!

Alexis

*smiles*

My thoughts and concerns are that this will apply to China only outside of the FTZs. If the FTZs are unaffected by this then we will see at most a tiny drop in the amount of Chinese gold farming as the majority of online farming is done inside China's Free Trade Zones. FTZs are places where capitalism is sort of the rule of the day, and many of the laws governing the majority of China do not apply or are amended for the FTZs.

If someone can tell me or find a link or source that cites whether this is all of China, Or only China outside the FTZs I would have a better grasp at what, if any, impact this will have on the RMT.

Alexis Diana Dority

*smiles*

The Lantern Corps would be amongst my favorite of all Super Groups. The intergalactic, interstellar,  omni racial police force was a nice change from Metropolis and Gotham.

Though in the more classic sense. I would have to go with those who are clamoring for the Bat. Bruce Wayne, there is a hero right there, a man who not only faces his inner demons in ways most men could not stomach, but does so while cleaning up the streets of Gotham, a nasty little burg if ever there was one. And still, this monolith among men finds the time to be a playboy, philanthropist and all around cool, suave cat. His endless supply of creativity in gadgeteering makes him amongst the DC Universe's most versatile and dangerous heroes. Villains in Gotham beware.

Alexis

*smiles as she waxes poetic on Bats*

Edited- to add a comma between the two adjectives used to describe the type of "cat" Bruce is.

Originally posted by Cailieg

 

 

 

edit- I stand corrected on the announcement front,  the news says "unannounced project in pre pro stages" which I guess my hope filled mind read as MMO announcement. I still stand firm in my belief that is what we will hear about at GDC is WoDO. \

You are right about the fan fair announcement about it being pushed back as well.

Called Aron for some WW insider info (a friend who freelances for WW and owns a comic store so is easy to touch base with) and he seems to think pushed back is a one year thing, The game had originally planned/slated its launch in 2010, he thinks from the vibe at the Geist office, and in the building in general is that it will be at least a year late. So it's original Q3 2010, becomes Q3 2011. But he warns even if he had info he could not tell me anything other than the "vibes" he mentioned.

 

 

Edited a second time to seperate two thoughts that should not have been joined via a semi colon.

Reposting my edits for you, as you can see I already conceded.

And the UR3 Engine, game for PS3/Xbox360 job posting is really telling that its likely not, but a girl can hope.

Alexis

*smiles*

Originally posted by Zlayer77

Originally posted by Cailieg

All the press coverage regarding it says MMO. I am sorry but I will even be so kind as to find the linkies for you. CCP said they will announce a new MMO at the GDC this August.

 

Also a good deal of my family and friends are WW employees and none of them seem to think it is too far off, now granted they are mostly writers in the tabletop lineups, and one a tabletop book artist, but they are on the other side of a fence we are not.

 

 

 

Alexis

*smiles*

 

They said no such thing, get your facts straight. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92305

If you think about it, IT makes no sence that it should be WOD, there has been no secreat that they have planed about making it for well, now what is it 3 years, since 2006 I think it was. So specualtions are running wild, but anoucing hey we will be making WOD would not be a suprise as they have allready been down that road, anoucing that they where goign to make it in 2006. Why do it again??

Its a single player game, for another platform, consol would be my best guess. Anoucing "hey we are gona try and make WOD again" would just be bad marketing... we allready know they wanted to do it. Plus they are trying to bring out walking in stations for EvE this year. And they showed us a sneak teaser of some sort of FPS shooter based on the EvE lore, on the last fanfest. So dont hold your fingers crossed for WoD I dont think it will happen sorry....

Also they have clearly stated that because of the current Econamic situation they are going back to there roots, doing what they are best at = EvE.

Also making an mmo in todays Market is HARD for an independent company, It was way diffrent back at the start of the decade. Now you need zillons of Dollars if you arnt gona Right FAIL at the end of the game name.. and even then you are not safe look at warhammer lolz

I say the best way is to wait untill 2012-14 to start making a New mmo the market just needs to die down a bit, its to Hot right now and to many are involved in it. It will get better in a few years time, when many have quit and we have a new generation that isent destroyed by WoW and its clones.

You typed all that before my edit mate.

I already posted that I stood corrected on both fronts (fan faire announcement by CCP and press covereage of the "new project in pre pro"), and then said my only hope stands in the words of WW employees who really can't tell me anything as they a) aren't in that dept. and b) live under NDAs.

Alexis

*Smiles*

All the press coverage regarding it says MMO. I am sorry but I will even be so kind as to find the linkies for you. CCP said they will announce a new MMO at the GDC this August.

Also a good deal of my family and friends are WW employees and none of them seem to think it is too far off, now granted they are mostly writers in the tabletop lineups, and one a tabletop book artist, but they are on the other side of a fence we are not.

Alexis

*smiles*

edit- I stand corrected on the announcement front,  the news says "unannounced project in pre pro stages" which I guess my hope filled mind read as MMO announcement. I still stand firm in my belief that is what we will hear about at GDC is WoDO. \

You are right about the fan fair announcement about it being pushed back as well.

Called Aron for some WW insider info (a friend who freelances for WW and owns a comic store so is easy to touch base with) and he seems to think pushed back is a one year thing, The game had originally planned/slated its launch in 2010, he thinks from the vibe at the Geist office, and in the building in general is that it will be at least a year late. So it's original Q3 2010, becomes Q3 2011. But he warns even if he had info he could not tell me anything other than the "vibes" he mentioned.

Edited a second time to seperate two thoughts that should not have been joined via a semi colon.

Originally posted by Zlayer77

Originally posted by NecroHelium

Sure, it might be on hold... but if you go to white-wolf.com (The IP holders for World Of Darkness) the top news story is about CCP... havent read it but was there earlier and just happened to notice.

 

Food for thought.

 

Edit - Just read it.  Its bragging about CCPs awards for innovation and its growing number of subscribers to EVE Online... Id bet they are still working together.  Go under World Of Darkness fiction to see article.

 

OFC they are working together they are THE SAME COMPANY.  CCP+WHITE WOLF merged back in 2006-2007. Most of the rp storyline in EvE are made by white wolf.  White wolf also make the trading card game based on EVE.

Nothing of this changes the fact that they both agreed apone postponing WoD...

Im sorry we wont see  WoD mmo in the near future. Im very happy that they have brought back all thiere attention to EvE.

You do realize at the GDC in Europe they are making a large announcement about another MMO.

Now being as we know CCP is making a large MMO announcement and given that we know CCPs "next" MMO was WoD, what do you think the MMO announcement will be in August? My money is on World of Darkness Online.

Alexis

*smiles*

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by Cailieg

 

I am a female gamer. I live in a house of two female gamers, myself and my partner. We are consummate geeks, our home being decorated in flows of geek ranging from Sci-Fi, to Comic-Books, to Horror and everything in between.

 

This game, and its classless, skill based, horror themed ideas, is probably the largest draw for me in the world of upcoming MMOs other than SW:TOR and for completely different reasons. SW:TOR is SW and Bioware. I will play it to play KoToR 3-12 online. But for a true immersive, create a living breathing character in a living breathing world....I will go with Secret World. Lovecraftian horror and its ilk ranks among my favorite of all genres and was and in a heavy influence in my tabletop gaming sessions where appropriate.

I believe this game will attract the "right" sort of girls. The ones you want to play with. Who are playing for more than "be a pretty elf princess experience". Instead bringing characterization and femininity to the table in the game world without being attention whoring little trollops who just want to tee-hee.

This will draw your more mature female mentalities and I think, we can look forward to an amazing population.

Alexis Diana Dority
*Smiles*

 

There is another horror game that fills the same requrements: CCP/White wolfs "world of darkness online". I think those 2 games will compete about the female game population, it is kinda Delta green against Vampire the masquerade.

My money is on White wolf but this game could be very good also, time will tell. In pen and paper RPGs however there is a lot more female gamers in WoD than Cthulu/Delta green.

May the best game win, I will try both (No, I am not a female gamer, it is me on the avatar but I like horror a lot).

As a huge fan and player of White Wolf's Tabletop lineup I must say I agree with you. But here is how my choice has been made thus far.

CCP's WOD MMO is rumored by people I know at WW Games to be launching sans the ability to be a supernatural yourself, or at least sans the ability to be a Vampire for some odd reason. Vampire, being the largest draw White Wolf has for the average female gamer (to whit more female gamers buy Vampire products and are into Vamp sexiness than they are into Uratha and other lineups) and not being included in the launch of the MMO will deter many girl gamers imho. Of course if and only if rumors are true does any of what I just said apply. If Vampires are in I expect Secret World will be banking on my next point.

CCP has no history in character customization, their one MMO; you get the chance to play a ship. AoC for all its myriad of faults, had a gorgeous character customization system, and had it launched with hair length sliders as planned, it would have been among the best out there. And still ranks in the top 5 in my mind. Add to this the leveless infinitely customizable skill framework purportedly in this game and you have an amazing series of tools for roleplay. One of the largest draws of the female gamer.

Time will tell if you are right. May the better made, more customizable, roleplay friendly game, win the war for horror girl subs.

Alexis
*Smiles*
 

I am a female gamer. I live in a house of two female gamers, myself and my partner. We are consummate geeks, our home being decorated in flows of geek ranging from Sci-Fi, to Comic-Books, to Horror and everything in between.

This game, and its classless, skill based, horror themed ideas, is probably the largest draw for me in the world of upcoming MMOs other than SW:TOR and for completely different reasons. SW:TOR is SW and Bioware. I will play it to play KoToR 3-12 online, fully expecting rails, walls and gameplay features reminisce of single player gaming experiences, in an MMO like world. But for a true immersive, create a living breathing character in a living breathing world, rich experience....I will go with Secret World. Lovecraftian horror and its ilk ranks among my favorite of all genres and was and is a heavy influence in my tabletop gaming sessions where appropriate.

I believe this game will attract the "right" sort of girls. The ones you want to play with. Who are playing for more than "be a pretty elf princess experience". Instead bringing characterization and femininity to the table in the game world without being attention whoring little trollops who just want to tee-hee.

This will draw your more mature female mentalities and I think, we can look forward to an amazing population.

Alexis Diana Dority
*Smiles*

No I am relatively certain they mean $1000 cash.

In Korea it is not too uncommon to buy and sell items. In times past I read about a pair of friends who won the "sword of doom" basically in a contest on their MMO. One friend sold it while the other was away on vacation. Upon returning to learn that his precious item was gone, the man murdered his friend, by sword.

The Koreans do not mess around when it comes to MMOs. $1000 is probably low end on the scale of MMO items bought and paid for by Korean power gamers.

Alexis

*smiles*

By doing a simple search I was able to find this quote. I was wrong it was a Chinese man who stabbed his friend over the sword. But, the Chinese do not take gaming quite as seriously as Koreans.

"41-year-old Shanghai man is accused in the stabbing death of videogaming competitor over stolen virtual weapon. Qiu Chengwei and Zhu Caoyuan jointly won the virtual sword for the MMORPG game Legend of Mir 3. Qiu lent the weapon to Zhu who subsequently sold it for 7,200 Yuan. Zhu had promised half the proceeds to Qiu, but Qiu, upset about the loss of the virtual weapon, went to Zhu's house and allegedly stabbed him, repeatedly in the chest, to death."

Originally posted by Netzoko

It blows my mind how out of touch developers are with the MMO base. With literally the biggest IP in the world, their focus is NOT what gamers have hated about mmos for years. No no, they will contiune to shovel the bullshit, but will now have STORY!

Are you kidding me? The level of absurdity is making my brain swell. People hate classes, they hate levels, they hate watered-down gameplay and grind. Does BioWare plan on address these -universal- complaints? Fuck no, to them the problem with MMOs is story? My mind is utterly blown. From forum to forum across the internet, followers are asking the same basic questions. Whats pvp like? Whats pve like? How are the classes? What is the item system like? Yet over and over, every single dev blog and release is about story. I just can't wrap my head around the unsurpassable amount of ignorance by the dev teams. You would think that seeing the failings of supposed "blockbuster" MMOs like Aoc and WAR would send a message, but no. Alas we continue to be insulted by developers who ignore the -KEY- issues people have with the genre, and instead focus on something utterly worthless.

Newsflash jackasses, your customers arn't upset with lack of story, they are upset with the cookie cutter MMO template that money grubing bandwagoners like you continue to reiterate and expect to sell.

I really dislike your act of speaking for me. I have a voice, and mine is not usually prone to such foul mouthed spew as your post indicates you can muster.

For me, the marriage of these two ideas, storytelling as vast and deep as single player experiences offer, as well as the action and socialization I crave in MMOs is exactly what I wanted. It makes it so I finally have one game that is inclusive of all the things I enjoy in the genre of MMO-RPG. You see, until now I have been forced to subside on spaghetti without sauce, cereal without milk, pizza without cheese....because we have been getting, as you so in-eloquently put it, the same MMO template (minus RPG) spewed at us by "money grubbing bandwagoners". Only I am in great disagreement on Bioware being one such.

You see they are off the bandwagon. We have been receiving for years MMO games that are missing the heavy RPG element.... Seriously, RPG games and the experience derived from that genres development of character and story has been missing, even though it is literally one half of the acronym itself.

Now that we are getting it; though I am nervous about how it will turn out; I am hopeful. I am excited, titillated and all around curious as to what my first golden day in that game will feel like.

Please do me a favor, do not speak for me or those like me, it comes off as abrasive to say the least.

Alexis Diana Dority
*smiles*

That would be me. And thank you for saying hello.

Alexis

*smiles*

Greetings and salutations my fellow gamers,

Alexis here, just your average friendly gamer girl with a penchant for wordy yet eloquent replies. Making my splash debut on MMORPG.com in a thread that is based on a jest poll.....Truly one must wonder at my sanity. But here goes. Since it applied here, I reposted this in this thread as well.

Bioware is trying something new, and we, as gamers, have grown so accustomed to our acronyms and definitions that we are nervous at the thought of true innovation. Often times it is this mentality, the "you can't break this mould or else bad things are destined to come your way", that splits our communities in half. Nearly as much as our worst debates on time constraints, gear obtainment value, to kill or not to kill another player and all around "this is greater than that" banter.

But why is this the case? Why are we, as gamers afraid of innovation in our genres? Why is the threat of "watering down the heart of the genre" such a concern.....to me, it is not. But to many of my fellows it stems from the idea that if a game deviates too far from the core of its genre and then is labeled as something it's not it opens the door for other games of a similar milieu to flood in. Valid concerns all. And sadly something we are already seeing in the MMO genre, with these first person shooter 24 people to a zone max "MMO-lites"..... So why is Bioware different, and how?

They tell amazing stories.

Bioware has yet to fail me, all of their games, and most of their game derivatives or partnership projects have been among my favorite game experiences. And for me it all began (yea I know I was a late BW fan) with Neverwinter Nights. It was what tore me and my friends away from our multiyear Diablo 2 addiction. Once I had tasted that...I checked out more things with their hand on it or near it. From Baldur's Gate to Planescape: Torment (their engine and a couple of their designers worked on it) to KoToR and then ME. They have never failed to astound me at their storytelling expertise.

But will this, this grandiose storytelling, amazing characterization and full voice over, work in my precious MMO genre? Like others I too have my concerns, though, I cannot and will not let them rule me.

You see these amazing RPG tools, the stories, the voices, the characterization, is one thing I could never fulfill in my MMO gaming. A closet addiction I have had since EQ1... For these things I had always to go elsewhere. Ever having to separate these two genres I so enjoyed.

And now they are to be married together in one game, done by a company that has yet to fail me.

Fears or not. I look forward to SW:TOR and to seeing how and if Bioware can accomplish the marriage of these two genres in a single game. Will this game prove to be MMORPG or SPORPG, the jury is out on this, but Bioware promised a fully functioning MMO, they have said this game will possess all the traits of an MMO. Will the single player like aspects of this game override the massive feel?

I urge you my fellow gamers, to try and let time tell on this one, rather than caving to your fears about a single player online role playing game. I have yet to be disappointed by this development team, and if they can maintain the massive feel, and add these elements to the game, then I say they may become the new golden standard in the genre.

Alexis Diana Dority
*smiles*
 

Greetings and salutations my fellow gamers,

Alexis here, just your average friendly gamer girl with a penchant for wordy yet eloquent replies. Making my splash debut on MMORPG.com in a thread that is based on a jest poll.....Truly one must wonder at my sanity. But here goes.

Bioware is trying something new, and we, as gamers, have grown so accustomed to our acronyms and definitions that we are nervous at the thought of true innovation. Often times it is this mentality, the "you can't break this mould or else bad things are destined to come your way", that splits our communities in half. Nearly as much as our worst debates on time constraints, gear obtainment value, to kill or not to kill another player and all around "this is greater than that" banter.

But why is this the case? Why are we, as gamers afraid of innovation in our genres? Why is the threat of "watering down the heart of the genre" such a concern.....to me, it is not. But to many of my fellows it stems from the idea that if a game deviates too far from the core of its genre and then is labeled as something it's not it opens the door for other games of a similar milieu to flood in. Valid concerns all. And sadly something we are already seeing in the MMO genre, with these first person shooter 24 people to a zone max "MMO-lites"..... So why is Bioware different, and how?

They tell amazing stories.

Bioware has yet to fail me, all of their games, and most of their game derivatives or partnership projects have been among my favorite game experiences. And for me it all began (yea I know I was a late BW fan) with Neverwinter Nights. It was what tore me and my friends away from our multiyear Diablo 2 addiction. Once I had tasted that...I checked out more things with their hand on it or near it. From Baldur's Gate to Planescape: Torment (their engine and a couple of their designers worked on it) to KoToR and then ME. They have never failed to astound me at their storytelling expertise.

But will this, this grandiose storytelling, amazing characterization and full voice over, work in my precious MMO genre? Like others I too have my concerns, though, I cannot and will not let them rule me.

You see these amazing RPG tools, the stories, the voices, the characterization, is one thing I could never fulfill in my MMO gaming. A closet addiction I have had since EQ1... For these things I had always to go elsewhere. Ever having to separate these two genres I so enjoyed.

And now they are to be married together in one game, done by a company that has yet to fail me.

Fears or not. I look forward to SW:TOR and to seeing how and if Bioware can accomplish the marriage of these two genres in a single game. Will this game prove to be MMORPG or SPORPG, the jury is out on this, but Bioware promised a fully functioning MMO, they have said this game will possess all the traits of an MMO. Will the single player like aspects of this game override the massive feel?

I urge you my fellow gamers, to try and let time tell on this one, rather than caving to your fears about a single player online role playing game. I have yet to be disappointed by this development team, and if they can maintain the massive feel, and add these elements to the game, then I say they may become the new golden standard in the genre.

So I voted this game be fun, though were I to have the chance I would have checked both, because I believe Bioware can deliver both.

Alexis Diana Dority
*smiles*