Yea I believe it was before that site, like I said I really dont remember best guess I can give you is a year or two ago.

Originally posted by grunty

Remember the Bard's Tale copy protection wheel?

WOW, I'd forgotten about that.  All of those games had copy protection schemes like that.  One game printed code words in black text on a dark red background so you couldn't photocopy them, and many a game used to ask you questions from p. 33, paragraph 3, line 2, 13th word in the sentence, 3rd letter in.   (damn, and sometimes they didn't work)

In fact, my name on this forum is taken from one of the evil Wizard's in Bards Tale One, you may recall Kylearan's Tower (I dropped the "a" to avoid copyright problems)

Originally posted by Angelbound

Umm rp or not, it should never be constantly forced not everyone feels like rping everyime they login frowning upon ooc is a snobby attitude if people want you to be opened to rp and if your not they call you narrow minded then why cant rp people be opened to ooc?

It should be a choice all these mmos you can roleplay or not.

I have to disagree, there should be some havens for role players, where they don't have to submit to OOC if they don't want to.  If the play style doesn't appeal to you, don't play.

Originally posted by Angelbound

Umm rp or not, it should never be constantly forced not everyone feels like rping everyime they login frowning upon ooc is a snobby attitude if people want you to be opened to rp and if your not they call you narrow minded then why cant rp people be opened to ooc?

It should be a choice all these mmos you can roleplay or not.

I would have to say that after a lot of thought, I have looked at the latest technology and games with massive polygon counts and seamless integration and stability and new concepts in adaptive interface. Planeshift wins, not on technical issues, but on something that is beyond and better than technology PEOPLE. This game in some odd way in all it's many flaws and imperfections allows the one greatest thing in the universe to shine through the play.

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Originally posted by moteyalpha

I would have to say that after a lot of thought, I have looked at the latest technology and games with massive polygon counts and seamless integration and stability and new concepts in adaptive interface. Planeshift wins, not on technical issues, but on something that is beyond and better than technology PEOPLE. This game in some odd way in all it's many flaws and imperfections allows the one greatest thing in the universe to shine through the play.

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The fact of the matter is that Planeshift's graphics are antiquidated, and its performance is poor given what you get for the CPU power put into it. Is that the only measure of the game? No, but it is a fact.

It's just a game, and there are definately areas where it needs improving.

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I've looked into 0.5 release, and it still doesn't have everything you may expect from a complete game, but I see many progresses!! Good work devs!!

I would like to see some special abilities when you develop your weapon skills. Also I heard there are mounts in game, but very hard to find, is that feature still hidden from the normal players? Is it working?

Exploring the new release is nice anyway, good new effects on chars (some spotlights or similar).

The mounts are now available via questing.

Sorry for bringing this back from the dead, but I feel must say something.

I have been playing MMORPGs for the past 3 years ( and RPGs and other games, in general, for a lot longer), and started playing Planeshift only a few days back. Before this I have played Last Chaos, Wonderland Online, Magic World Online, Myth Wars, Silk Road, Dragon Oath, Conquerors 2, Phoenix Dynasty, AdventureQuest Worlds, Anarchy Online, Angels Online, Aurora Blade, Deicide Online, Destiny Online, Dream Of Mirror, Dofus, Zentia, Zodiac Online, Trickster Online, Second Life, Secret of Solstice, Metin 2 and a whole lot more which I seriously can't recall. Sorry if it's a big list. I've just had too much free time(though that situation has sadly changed).

My point is, I know what's out there(talking about F2Ps), and know what makes them what they are. Great graphics, wonderful intuitive systems, good support- just so many vital components to a good F2P MMORPG. That long list of games you see above; I have played them tirelessly, risen through the ranks, made friends, lead guilds, and a lot more. And you know what I got from it all? Nothing!

I'm a roleplayer- I love stepping into the shoes of my character and becoming him or her or kra for a while. I love being immersed in the world of the game, reveling in it's rich backstory, amazing, original setting and enjoy communicating with others. I don't want to talk to other players. I want to talk to a dwarf, or a klyros, or a Nolthrir and perhaps go out with a hot diaboli woman(a dermorian can dream, can't he?).

What everyone here (and all through the forums) who have left negative comments must understand is that this is a roleplaying game- the first true  one that I have found(and thank the lord that I did) in a long, long time.It's so rich, so varied, so deep; I could just lose myself in it. And I love that. The players really try their hardest to roleplay and where some of the new ones don't succeed, there are helpful and frienly mature players who help out, you just have to know how to ask, for which the forums(PS) is a great place.

This is a place for those of us who have a creative streak in them. Roleplaying takes imagintaion and lots of creative skill. It really makes you think. And I love that this game enforces IC conversations zealously. Otherwise the players would go lazy and OOC&OOC (Out of Character and Out of Control). And that just ruins it for those of us who take RP seriously.

Also, can you show me one game out there that is not led by a corporate team with millions at their disposal and the ability to hire people to work for them? PS is entirely free, no strings attached. The people working on it have a life of their own, their own personal problems, headaches, worries and responsibilities. Yet they find the time to work to deliver such a marvelous game. They're doing it coz they love it and expecting them to do any more is pure foolishness. They never asked anyone to play the game. All they did was say, "Hey, we made this interesting game. Would you like to play it?" If you don't want to play, then just don't.

PS works across all platforms and is completely opensource which not only means that it is accesible to most people, but that it really stands up for the spirit of impartiality. I mean, why should I be not able to play a certain game just because my OS doesn't support it.

I don't what else to say at the moment, so I guess I'll stop. I truly love this game and support it whole heartedly. I am not much good for anything, but maybe in the future when I'm more capable, I can help contribute to the game directly. If not I'll be sure to make at least financial contributions(when I can finally get a credit card). But that is far in the future.

I sincerely hope the development team will never get frustarted and say something like, "Aw, heck! Let's just give them a feature rich game that doesnt care about RP and has an IG mall to get us some moolah." Coz that would be sad day for people like me.

And to everyone else who still thinks that this game is rubbish, I humbly beg you to keep your opinions to yourself. I have been very civil and courteous here in this reply. Know that usually I'm as rough as a dwarf.

For now, that is all.

Kaylor,s you only started playing PS "a few days ago".... interestingly enough, your post is written like a true PSnoob. You're very unexperienced in the true nature of PlaneShift. Perhaps it is you who should take your signature's advice. Nobody likes inexperienced newbie reviews tbh, wait a year or three (I played two years) and you'll see. Try talking about any of your previous FTP games in the chat channel, there's social controls to prevent players sharing information about "competition".

Also, as a final note, please don't diss OpenSource by saying PlaneShift is OpenSource. Here's why:

1) The engine is the only OpenSource part of PlaneShift. The bare engine. Art, combat scripting, item database, quests, ingame settings, etc etc are ALL proprietary, so that no one can fork PlaneShift and put power in nicer people's hands.

2) The engine documentation has now been made proprietary and non-public. This means in order to get any of it, you'll have to befriend Talad. And he's not going to help you if your team contains any people who used to play/dev PS and left because of his behaviour.

3) According to Talad (the director), using the PlaneShift engine without his express consent and blessing constitutes STEALING. It's all in another thread about the IRC channel. So much for the nature of OpenSource, huh?

So, Kaylors, perhaps it is best if you read around and see what everyone is saying before posting based on "a few days" experience.

Actually, if a game doesn't pull you in fast, then why should you bother to continue with it?

Also the engine is Opensource. Crystal Space is most certainly Opensource, in fact it's very well known for it. 

Talada does not own the engine, he owns the individual components of Planeshift. Using those without his permission is stealing. The Engine itself is anyones. 

You can claim you wrote something yourself and that would be enough to be considered absconding. Like what the game director does with PSwiki. Compare the edit histories of these two pages. They're the exact same thing, except one is the original and properly attributed to all authors, and the other was copied and pasted by the game director himself onto PSwiki.

http://tempestintheaether.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=PAWS_specification&action=history

http://planeshift.ezpcusa.com/pswiki/index.php?title=PAWS_specification&action=history

Boaal, dear sir, look in the "IRC Rules" thread on this General Discussion forum, and you'll notice that there's a lovely log there where Talad claims a competition project "stole" his resources, and when someone in channel asks if he is referring to the engine he affirms this, then goes on to say that the engine is for PlaneShift, (and PlaneShift only, by extension).

Originally posted by ChuckiSpux

Boaal, dear sir, look in the "IRC Rules" thread on this General Discussion forum, and you'll notice that there's a lovely log there where Talad claims a competition project "stole" his resources, and when someone in channel asks if he is referring to the engine he affirms this, then goes on to say that the engine is for PlaneShift, (and PlaneShift only, by extension).

I cannot believe what I just read. 

I really cannot. 

He claims ownership of Crystal space!? 

Crystal Space and PlaneShift (engine) are not one and the same. PlaneShift has more added to it.

Of course he would, now that jorrit is on the board of directors he might as well claim he owns it too.

Remember, he also claimed that Peragro Tempus was a fork of PlaneShift just because they were using Crystal Space.

Originally posted by kaylors

I'm a roleplayer- I love stepping into the shoes of my character and becoming him or her or kra for a while. I love being immersed in the world of the game, reveling in it's rich backstory, amazing, original setting and enjoy communicating with others. I don't want to talk to other players. I want to talk to a dwarf, or a klyros, or a Nolthrir and perhaps go out with a hot diaboli woman(a dermorian can dream, can't he?).

What everyone here (and all through the forums) who have left negative comments must understand is that this is a roleplaying game-

Utmoon - What you need to understand is that most of the people deriding PS are Roleplayers, and once enjoyed the game as you do now. In my personal history with PS, I was a writer, then roleplayer, then organizer of player events, then developer (despite the fact that my name still has not been added to the credits). I was considered to be one of the best roleplayers around by many.

Also, can you show me one game out there that is not led by a corporate team with millions at their disposal and the ability to hire people to work for them? PS is entirely free, no strings attached. The people working on it have a life of their own, their own personal problems, headaches, worries and responsibilities. Yet they find the time to work to deliver such a marvelous game. They're doing it coz they love it and expecting them to do any more is pure foolishness. They never asked anyone to play the game. All they did was say, "Hey, we made this interesting game. Would you like to play it?" If you don't want to play, then just don't.

Given that I was an Associate Developer in the Settings Department assigned the tasks of writing the history of the game through books and quests, I feel that I have more insight than most other people can lay claim to. The development atmosphere is controlled, suffocating, paranoid, and downright poisonous at times. Being on the team destroyed my love for the game, which had already started to wain as a player fed up with the lack of features supporting actual roleplaying using game mechanics. Enforcing OOC/IC chat does not count as a mechanic, and is the only thing at this point that makes the game 'roleplaying' at all. The rest is the community. I would like to say that though the environment on the team was terrible (due to the leadership of the director), there were some great people there who I was good friends with. We all deserved better.

I sincerely hope the development team will never get frustarted and say something like, "Aw, heck! Let's just give them a feature rich game that doesnt care about RP and has an IG mall to get us some moolah." Coz that would be sad day for people like me.

That sad day has come and gone, my friend. You have missed the passing of many a level 'cap' increases, Guildhouse 'auctions' to suck money out of the game, 'nerfing' of mines and ores to make it harder for people to level to the character they want to play, and many other things. You were not around when the NPC chat system was replaced with a more 'mainstream' menu system to draw players in from the big games. You did not see when easy 'grind' features were focused on more than more difficult roleplay supporting mechanics. Simply put, you have not been around long enough to see how roleplaying is gutted in favor of the leveling, questing, and item grind.

And to everyone else who still thinks that this game is rubbish, I humbly beg you to keep your opinions to yourself. I have been very civil and courteous here in this reply. Know that usually I'm as rough as a dwarf.

All opinions should be listened to, for or against any topic. I give my opinion on PS as a warning to others. I tell them what I know and have experienced so that they do not go blindly as I did. If they still chose to follow the game and like it, that is fine by me. If they chose to become a dev and enjoy that as well, more power to them. I will never stand up and say "Don't play this game!". I simply say what I wish someone had told me before I wasted so much time and effort trying to make PS a better roleplaying game, and in the end, failing. Everyone who has tried to make PS better for roleplaying so far has also failed. It is just not what it is billed as.

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Originally posted by UtMoon
...I was a writer, then roleplayer, then organizer of player events, then developer (despite the fact that my name still has not been added to the credits).

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an open source mmo running on donations? i applaud them for the idea, i hope they succeed, and i'll keep an eye on it occasionally...we'll see...

Originally posted by ChuckiSpux

Crystal Space and PlaneShift (engine) are not one and the same. PlaneShift has more added to it.

Then why exactly do they keep updateing to another version of crystal space every so often, when they have their own engine, as you say? 

They don't.  Even if they did, you can't take someone else's engine, add something to it, and say "Oh shit, now it's mine". it doesn't work that way. If it was their engine, they'd simply update their engine. But as it's Crystal Space they update, it's Crystal space they use.  To claim the engine as their own they'd have to build it from the ground up. They have not, it is not.