I find the lack of weather in these games is way worse than magic. I can believe in harnessing some unseen force of the universe because we actually do it in reality, just not to the levels it has gotten in games. Electricity is pretty much just magic we dont really understand it we just know what it does and how to use it. HOWEVER: I have a huge problem believing that all these planets the games take place in are in such an orbit around their sun that there is no weather what so ever. It is always summer or it is always winter depending on where you are on the planet, sometimes it rains but there is never a tornado, hurricane, or earthquake in sight. I have a better time believing the dead are rising from the ground then I do that the planet has never experienced a hurricane

Try Xyson, almost no magic to speak of in that game.

MMO gameplay would be quite gritty without magic.

 

Just look at the use of pocket pony mounts for example.  Damnit, where did I park my horse?

 

I don't care.

Besides, go look at some pictures of scanning electron microscope and tell me it doens't look like magic.

This is a macrophage in the body surrounded by a bunch of mineral particles, looks pretty damn magical to me!

 

And the walk on water comment, this animal does it:

 

I don't want my MMO to be unrealistic, I like more realistic MMO like Everquest, but I don't want to play something like Mount & Blade. I want magic in my MMO.

"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology/science."

-Clarke's Third Law

 

Lorewise, scientists cannot explain how certain things work like dark magic in old age settings. If they could, it usually attributes to MORE magic or magical potential.

Gamewise, anything would be described by magic. If I say that I can see dead spirits of players and able to bind them together back in their bodies to ressurect them..how can I see them and how can I bind them? Magic.

 

If I say that a goddess gave me the ability to see, how did the goddess give me that ability and how did they become a goddess? Magic.(short read version)

Originally posted by Oracle_Fefe

"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology/science."

-Clarke's Third Law

 

Lorewise, scientists cannot explain how certain things work like dark magic in old age settings. If they could, it usually attributes to MORE magic or magical potential.

Gamewise, anything would be described by magic. If I say that I can see dead spirits of players and able to bind them together back in their bodies to ressurect them..how can I see them and how can I bind them? Magic.

 

If I say that a goddess gave me the ability to see, how did the goddess give me that ability and how did they become a goddess? Magic.

That is not Arthur C Clarke at all what he said in fact was:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

... and what he meant was if you do not have the technical knowledge to understand what is happening then it will appear as magic to you.  He never implied that magic was in any sense real.

While it might be nice for magic in RPGs to be a little more internally consistent the market seems to think otherwise. 

It used to be the case that casting spells in Everquest used to require that you have a "material component" that was consumed by casting the spell.  You then had to replenish your stock of that item to continue casting the spell. All of that has now disappeared because players found it annoying and complained about it.

Originally posted by craftseeker

Originally posted by Oracle_Fefe

"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology/science."

-Clarke's Third Law

 

Lorewise, scientists cannot explain how certain things work like dark magic in old age settings. If they could, it usually attributes to MORE magic or magical potential.

Gamewise, anything would be described by magic. If I say that I can see dead spirits of players and able to bind them together back in their bodies to ressurect them..how can I see them and how can I bind them? Magic.

 

If I say that a goddess gave me the ability to see, how did the goddess give me that ability and how did they become a goddess? Magic.

That is not Arthur C Clarke at all what he said in fact was:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

... and what he meant was if you do not have the technical knowledge to understand what is happening then it will appear as magic to you.  He never implied that magic was in any sense real.

Apologies, I completely mixed it backwards.

Originally posted by Oracle_Fefe

Originally posted by craftseeker

Originally posted by Oracle_Fefe

"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology/science."

-Clarke's Third Law

 

Lorewise, scientists cannot explain how certain things work like dark magic in old age settings. If they could, it usually attributes to MORE magic or magical potential.

Gamewise, anything would be described by magic. If I say that I can see dead spirits of players and able to bind them together back in their bodies to ressurect them..how can I see them and how can I bind them? Magic.

 

If I say that a goddess gave me the ability to see, how did the goddess give me that ability and how did they become a goddess? Magic.

That is not Arthur C Clarke at all what he said in fact was:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

... and what he meant was if you do not have the technical knowledge to understand what is happening then it will appear as magic to you.  He never implied that magic was in any sense real.

Apologies, I completely mixed it backwards.

That is fine many have before you,

BTW you might like to read "The Flying Sorcerors" by Larry Niven (1971)

It deals with the interaction of a "magic" using society dealing with a high tech anthropologist in a very humorous way.

Originally posted by MightyChasm

I am just fed up of lazy game mechanics in fantasy games; the 'its magic' excuse.  Likewise in sci-fi, the unrealistic technological advancement is the equivelent.  

It is just lazy, and winds me up hugely, but perhaps that is just me.  

I am going to heal the entire team, how? Magic.  

Now I am going to walk on water?  Again magic.  

Now I am going to rise from the dead.  Bloody magic again.  

 and yet going invisible is a rogue skill called stealth. if anything turning invisible is the most magic thing ever.

If there's no magic, then how did my dad steal my nose when I was 2?

I loved LOTRO's explanation of the lore-master's 'fireball'.  He basically dipped a hankie in gasoline, lit it and threw it.  I would have rather them say it was magic.

Originally posted by craftseeker

It used to be the case that casting spells in Everquest used to require that you have a "material component" that was consumed by casting the spell.  You then had to replenish your stock of that item to continue casting the spell. All of that has now disappeared because players found it annoying and complained about it.

Enchanter runes still require gems, you still need bones to raise a skeleton, but you're right, many reagents got removed.

What bothers me most in Everquest and other MMO that I have to turn off magic in large-scale raids because I can't see through all the light, which takes away much of the....magic of magic.

Yeah, how dare fantasy be unrealistic for people without an imagination!

Originally posted by Roxtarr

If there's no magic, then how did my dad steal my nose when I was 2?

I loved LOTRO's explanation of the lore-master's 'fireball'.  He basically dipped a hankie in gasoline, lit it and threw it.  I would have rather them say it was magic.

 Don't forget this famous magic trick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCEUp3IMt2o

Originally posted by jtcgs
Yeah, how dare fantasy be unrealistic for people without an imagination!

 Perhaps they have imagination but are just being lazy!