Originally posted by Yamota

Originally posted by Stradden

Originally posted by Teala

So let's rag on the female gender as if this is our fault.    Also, what does playing a female toon, if you're a guy, have to do with gender specific issues.    Guys have been playing female toons like forever.   Any guys here ever play Tomb Raider?  Thought so.   Nobody thought anything of that did they.    So why make a big deal out of this.   If some frakked up company in China wishes to be stupid...let them.    All this article is is sensationalism.   Come on...this is not worthy of an article.     This is kind of writing is to just get people riled up.    ::sigh::

*ahem*

What?

Can I ask, honestly, whether or not you actually read the article?

No kidding guys have been playing female toons forever. I know I have. This article was written to point out how stupid this particular policy actually is. I'm making a "big deal" out of it because it's completely outrageous. Many news sites picked up on this story and I wanted to use my column this week to rant about how stupid it was.

I could see your complaint if the article had been written from the perspective of : hey, what a great idea... but it wasn't.

 

Why is it outrageous? Many things in life ask you to specify your gender, be it applying for a job or play amateure football. Why would a competetive video game be any different?

It is not politically correct but I dont see what is so outrageous about it.

It does not say that male, female, gay, straight, black, white cannot play. They simply say dont misrepresent/hide your true gender.

Well you see the problem with your view point is that you are not applying for a job or playing amateur football.  We are talking about mmoRPG. Yes the RPG stands for roleplaying game.  Set in on a real pen and paper rpg game session or go to a roleplaying game convention like GenCon and you will see that the whole thing of not allowing a player to play a character of an opposite sex is ridiculous.

  You are not misrepresenting anything because you are playing a roleplaying game.  Otherwise like other people pointed out you would be misrepresenting yourself by playing a mage when you don't really cast spells.  Or being an orc when you are not.

I think at the heart of the matter is that people for some reason think that these games double as an online dating service.   There are companies that are good at finding someone a date.  These people need to start going to those sites instead of soliciting other players. 

People really need to get a life and stop obsessing over what someones real life sex is.  I could care less.  If they are cool to group with and are nice in general that is all I care about.

Very good article Jon, I agree with it 100%.

Originally posted by hades302

Yay!

Sorta...

I really hate it when a human plays an elf.

It's creepy...

QFT lol.  And your are right Toquio3, I think the whole rpg concept does escape some people.  Nothing wrong with playing a character of the opposite sex.  Thats the beauty of roleplaying games, you get to play what ever you want. 

I have said it before, even the father of roleplaying games Gary Gygax has played characters of the opposite sex before.  This is a not even an issue with those of us from a pen and paper rpg background.

Wow that is pretty big if it is true.  A giant taken over by an even bigger giant.  Microsoft would have all the EA sports titles and more importantly to all of us the Mythic and Bioware studios under their belt.  Hopefully they would know enough not to interfere with the creative process and be more "hands off". 

On the console side like the article said, what would that mean for some of the games that are big on all consoles like the sports titles?  EA sports only on Xbox?  It will be interesting to see if anything comes out of this.

This day and age I would not be surprised if it happens.  After all the Disney deal to buy Marvel is already pretty much a done deal.

I just wanted to point out that it seems UO has reactivated all old accounts until Oct 16 I believe.  I am going to log on a try UO again myself.  I might possibly get the expansion after that time as well.  I am currently playing AoC and really enjoying myself.  But UO was always my favorite.  Check out the announcement on the main page here

http://www.uoherald.com/news/

Sounds like you just download one of the two clients and log in with your old information.

Not sure if this was posted earlier.  But as a part of their Direct 2 Drive turns 5 celebration, they are offering Age of Conan for $5.  It looks like fileplanet still has a Age of Conan trial also.  So if you get the trial, you can basically play the game for 37 days for only $5.  Not a bad deal at all.  The sale for the rpgs and mmorpgs runs for this week.  Next week it is another catagory.

http://www.direct2drive.com/6/6132/product/Buy-Age-of-Conan:-Hyborian-Adventures-Download

I voted yes.  Even though I will always be more of a fantasy fan(always have been since I got my first D&D set back in 83).  I do love Star Wars and the KotOR games were great.  From what I have seen of the in game footage plus the write ups, it really has me excited. 

The only other future games that have my interest  is Aion(maybe), Star Trek Online(I am also a big Trek fan but not as much as Star Wars) and Copernicus.  I am probably the most excited about Copernicus because its a fantasy game that has RA Salvatore involved.  But again SWToR has me pretty pumped and I will definitely buy it.

Originally posted by eureka105

Originally posted by Drokar

To sum, when i play AoC, i feel like i am in this world... it is truly an immersive experience... obvsiously i just came back and i am not sure about higher levels, but so far this seems to be THE true mmo out there right now if you are a true mmo rpg fan and just not an mmo 'pvp' fan.. but again, imo. Roll playing seems to be a focus for the developers and the tools are there but i havent jumped into that.

 

/end thread

Drokar don't let the idiots get to you.  I agree with you, the game is great.  No mmorpg has been able to hold my attention like this for a while.  I get alot of the same feelings(fun factor) playing AoC like I used to get with EQ and UO.  I even got my buddy hooked on it and he used to be a hard core Lineage 2 guy.  

They have added alot of high end content too.  We are in our 60's(hes almost 70) and have had no problem leveling up and finding interesting things to do.

I am glad to hear that they finally got the funding they need.  It would have been a shame if they had not been able to finish the game.

Originally posted by bonobotheory

Originally posted by Arthineas

Is a mmorpg worth $15 a month?   That works out to .50 a day for unlimited entertainment.  You can play it when you want, as long as you want.  Where in contrast these days you can go to the movie theater for about $7 and pay about $3.50 for popcorn, another $2.50 for a drink.  The whole experience only lasts for 2-3 hours.  You do the math.  I looks pretty worth it to me.

 

An MMORPG is only 50 cents a day if you play it every single day. If you play in moderation, a few times a week and for a only couple of hours in a sitting, it's not much of a bargain anymore.

True, but the point is its cheap entertainment that is there anytime you want.  I myself am a very casual player anymore.  I usually only play on the weekends and maybe a day during the week.  Thats still alot cheaper then going to the movies which only lasts you 2-3 hours. 

 Plus I have been saving money because I do not have to go buy a $30-$50 dollar game that will only last me a month.  I can't remember the last time I bought a regular game. 

A good mmorpg is money well spent in my opinion.  Plus the experience always changes.  You never know how your play session is going to turn out.  Its not static like regular games.

Originally posted by veritas_X

Sounds good, I'll be re-subbing to check it out.

Can't wait to see how the 'AOC is failing' crowd reacts to a new expansion, lol.

I do not listen to those AoC is failing morons.  If they would actually log onto a server they would see that it is not.  I play on the Wiccana server and it does not matter when I log on, I always see alot of people.  I even play very late at night alot of the time and its still good.

Is a mmorpg worth $15 a month?   That works out to .50 a day for unlimited entertainment.  You can play it when you want, as long as you want.  Where in contrast these days you can go to the movie theater for about $7 and pay about $3.50 for popcorn, another $2.50 for a drink.  The whole experience only lasts for 2-3 hours.  You do the math.  I looks pretty worth it to me.

Can't believe you guys left out Copernicus by Curt Schilling's 38 Studios.  With guys like RA Salvatore(one of the best fantasy writers around) and Todd Mcfarlane(great artist), along with all the other industry pros they have been hiring, its bound to be great.

Originally posted by skeaser

Nice list of what they haven't done yet. What about the insane amount of bug fixes, the complete revamp of stats, the new playfields and instances, updated guild cities and everything else?

 

 

QFT.  I think AoC in its current condition is great.  I have played just about every major mmorpg around since I first started to playing them back in 98.  AoC is my favorite right now.  No mmorpg in recent times has been able to hold my attention the way AoC has.  The last time I felt like this about a game was back when I was playing UO and EQ.

I could not agree more Stradden.  You can almost tell who is going to be bitter and leave stupid, small minded comments by looking at their signatures alot of the time.   I wish people would spend more of their time playing the mmorpg of their choice and less bitching about a game that they will never play.  I mean really what is the point?  As soon as I see a thread that overly negative without any constructive points(constructive criticism is ok), I stop reading.  I am sure alot of people feel the same way too.

UO, EQ and AC from the past.  Currently the only game that has captured my attention like that is the game that I am playing now which is Age of Conan.  I absolutely love the game.

Originally posted by winter

Originally posted by Arthineas

I would love to see Brad Mcquaid get back into mmorpg development.  He has good ideas and I believe he can make a good game.  Almost everyone agrees that the early days of EQ were the best, which was the time when he was around.  Vanguard while plagued with technical issues in the beginning had alot of great ideas.  It is a pretty good game.

 

Well as long you and others like you are willing to invest heavily in his next company / MMO I'm sure he'll be happy to do his part. So how much of your hard earn money do you believe in Brad?

 

How much? Well lets see... probably about $39.99-$49.99 + $14.99 a month. Pretty much the standard price you would pay for any mmorpg :)  Bottom line is, if the game that he makes is good I will play it.  But I always look before I leap and I won't play anything unless I believe it is good.

I would love to see Brad Mcquaid get back into mmorpg development.  He has good ideas and I believe he can make a good game.  Almost everyone agrees that the early days of EQ were the best, which was the time when he was around.  Vanguard while plagued with technical issues in the beginning had alot of great ideas.  It is a pretty good game.

Originally posted by Dameonk

The sheer amount of misinformation in this thread is staggering.
Gennadios has the correct information listed in Post #18
Garriott had no design decisions after the intial creation of UO.  The only other MMO he developed after UO was Tabula Rasa.  He had absolutely no hand in the direction of any of the other NCSoft games.
 
 

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Originally posted by NeverLand7
Garriot needs more love and attention on these forums though. After all, the man only made one of the most genius mmorpgs ever to exist. Garriot gave birth out of the womb of his work-body to breathe life into his only begotten son, Ultima Online.

---

 

Unfortunately he has not created a game even close to UO in the last 11 years. The only two games he created since UO (Ultima X and Tabula Rasa) were failures. I'm sorry to say, Neverland7, but your hero could not make the move from 2D to 3D game development.

No offense but WTF are you talking about.  This is the second time that you have attributed Ultima X with Garriot.  He had nothing to do with Ultima X.  He was long gone from EA by then. 

As far as Tabula goes, I think they should have stuck with the fantasy/sci-fi hybrid game that they had going.  It looked much more interesting.  The whole aliens come to Earth, kick our butts and a small group of us rises up to fight back has been done way too many times.  I do think that they dropped the ball when they switched to that story.  Too generic and limiting for a guy like Garriot. 

I have hope for a future mmorpg by Richard being that he stated it would be in a fantasy setting again.  Stick with what you are best at.

Originally posted by Tjommis

I would definately suggest you check out the Bear shaman class in Age of Conan.

I second that thought :)