mrots, you should not be allowed on the internet :( Not only the majority of people don't play several hours a day, everyday, but they live in different time zones (you know, Earth is round and spins and all). As an example - out of something like 40 people on my buddy list (all active except maybe 1-2), I never see more than 5-10 online at the same time, and that's during peak.

The 1.5-2 hour per day average is perfectly real (for MMOs in general). As a 1.5 year subscriber I play exactly that much... sometimes more on weekends. Moreso, I play 3-4 times a week, not every day. This is how most people play, it's only a small percentage of MMO nerds that play 6+ hours a day, 7 days a week... (that was my average too in another game... and I want my time back, seriously).

Regarding the original post... The game recovered from T20 scandal and broke a new peak record in July, in the middle of summer, which is usually the lowest activity time for MMOs. Not much else to say, really.

Now if they could only fix the damn de-sync and lag instead of working on useless crap like walking in stations :(

The reason why the word 'vaporware' comes up already is the same as with numerous similiar titles: new company promising ground-breaking MMO with features list that stomps the biggest games into the ground... yet they don't have much to show apart from a website and features list.

OK, maybe it's a way to get an investor, but if I was one I'd also prefer a more realistic approach. With all the knowledge of the past, dev studios should be more careful with planning (and annoucing) their features lists, because every time the outcome is the same - after years of development it becomes apparent that the amount of time and money required to do all of the stuff they envisioned in the beggining is much much higher... Shadowbane, Wish, Mourning, Dark & Light, Dragon Empires, Darkfall (even though I hope it gets released one day)... and a plethora of other titles I don't even remember cause all they ever had was a website with features lists before they got cancelled - so many titles to learn from! The few indie sandbox games that succeeded didn't promise golden apples but focused on features that made them unique (e.g. EVE, Ryzom).

In the end I'd love it to be different with Renaissance, not only because I thrive for a medieval/fantasy sandbox MMO, but also because the world looks more interesting than in other games. I like the realistic medieval feel on the screenshots, human races (enough with the fairies!) and prefer it to the high fantasy crap that most games are ridden with, even Darkfall. I know a random internet guy's opinion is quite worthless to you but for the love of God, cut down that feature list by half and focus on stuff that makes the game different. Make compromises. I'd really like to play a game for once, instead of looking at screenshots for 7 years  Either way, good luck.

Released: EVE Online (Iceland), Anarchy Online (Norway), Saga of Ryzom (France), Roma Victor (UK), Dark and Light (France)

only 2.5 of these I'd call successful (EVE and AO, maybe Ryzom)

In Production: Age of Conan (Norway), Darkfall (Norway/Greece), The Chronicles of Spellborn (Netherlands) + a number of small/vaporware titles

EDIT: also successful free ones: Runescape (UK) and Tibia (Germany)

WTF? This game was in beta in 2004 when I played it. It looked like another diablo-clone MMO with nothing but stupid mob killing, and looks like nothing changed... Funny though since back then they were talking about server wipe for the release soon... three years later it's still beta?

The male haircuts in the movies looked emo to me, but you guys have a point. 'Romantic' would've been a better word

I was looking at the screenshots and recent movies and finally I'm getting at what this game is really about: LOVE! It's everywhere, there're even Sakura Trees, many flirting emotes and everyone looks emo. Here's an edited screenshot that explains it better:

Discuss!

Originally posted by jmmcglo

Emmmm.. quick question.. we are adults right? If we think back to the times of our parents.. didn't are parents say that video games were childish and that we should grow out of playing them when we get older? So, therefor, wouldn't it be an "oximoron" to say that a game's graphics are "childish"? lol

I just feel argumentative today.. idk... 

Enjoy Aion, but don't get all cocky about people not liking anime graphics with cute 14-year-old girls. They may be fine in it's own genre, but it's anime again, exactly the same style every Asian MMO has, so no, I'm not impressed at all, sorry.

Originally posted by jmmcglo

If for any reason someone should say that they are "not impressed" with Aion's graphics tells me one of a few things.

1: They are a WoW lover.

2: They haven't really played many MMORPG's and are not familure with graphics associated with MMORPGs.

3: Haven't gotten a solid taste of good graphics in an MMORPG (WoW lovers apply).

4: They are a WoW lover.

One thing I have noticed is a lot of WoW lovers come on these posts and flame other games. Frankly pisses me off. All because another game actually has realistic graphics?? Come on.. stick to your shotty-toonish graphics and leave other games alone. You just irritate others who want no part of your "flaming" attitude. I was once a WoW player for about a month... loved the environments but HATED the fact I was controling a stupid looking cartoon character.

5. They are not into childish anime graphics?

ps. I don't like WoW either

playing EVE Online, will try AoC & WAR also unless DFO comes first (yeah, right)

The only thing these 2 games have in common is that they are MMOs with space setting. They are completely different, down to the very basics of gameplay. I consider EVE much much better, because its depth (everything from crafting to territorial control) leaves Jumpgate far behind, but I'm gonna play the updated Jumpgate as well because unlike EVE it's a twitch-based simulator, e.g. you actually control your ship and shoot people, instead of doing point-and-click commands and calculations.

Saying that Jumpgate requires more skill is rather silly, unless you define skill as eye-to-hand reflexes only. The two games require totally different kinds of gaming skills, it's like comparing FPS game to RPG/Strategy.

No it was not innovative at all. When I started the trial, I was hoping it is something new and fresh, but it turned out be 100% like any other fantasy MMO i.e. World of Warcraft, except you control a car instead of an elf. There was so much they could do with the excellent idea, but instead they just converted the well-known formula into cars. The result was a boring, unimaginative game.

EVE, launched in 2003, has no human avatars but ships instead, and unlike AA was actually innovative, basically unlike any other MMO ever done. Somehow, EVE became a great success and is still growing after 4 years, while AA was a failure from the start. For me, at least, the reason I didn't buy AA after the trial was that it was nothing more than a WoW with cars.