Profile: Kalin
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UO was a breakthrough.. EQ made you sense the freedom of a virtual 3D world... DAoC was the best... AC was this.. SWG was that.. FFXI ruled.. blah.. blah.
Now, there's a discussion to be had here that could go on forever.. and it has been. The 3rd generation game that never came. Or did it and we missed it?
We had high hopes for Horizons, great expectations for Dark & Light, and those of us who beta tested Wish still regret its loss.
Lineage 2 was a commercial success, yet who was really satisfied from it as the "successor of legendary games"? Who can claim that for WoW?
Archlord was stillborn from the launch, and even Vanguard -Saga of the dissapointed thousants flopped.
Ryzom, Rubies of Eventide, the neverending development of Darkfall, CoH and CoV, Guild Wars.... the list is long and... empty.
Masses of players stormed games like Hero/Knight/whatsamacallit Online, Rappelz, Sword of the New World, 2 Moons, etc.
Silkroad claims a 12 million count memberbase. Well, try play it for 2 days to see what its about.
I did.
In fact, I played all the above games with the adition of 12-15 more, numerous betas, asian titles that nobody heard of (and some of them -nobody ever will).
Yes, I'm one of those people who still search for the absolute game. I have been in the beta test of Myth of SOMA and the beta of DAoC a year later.
I played Lineage2 while it was still under Korean beta and Japan alpha.. I've spent 3 years helping (or so I thought) to develope D&L and Wish. My list goes on as well..
Empty.

If you ask me what game I loved, it was hands down DAoC. True, it's an opinion but it's MY opinion. That's what I happened to be playing at a certain time
when I was still new to 3D mmorpgs and everything could still amaze me. I had friends in game, a great guild (top 3 on our server) and life was grand!
Then why did I leave? What was missing? Grafics? Sure, but I tried it again after TOA expansion with an improved engine and still I couldn't stay long.
The players where too litle, the adventure too long to gear up and reach the top 10 PvPers (I was always competitive you see), but -above all- it was an already played game.
I craved for something new. A new thrill, a glorious saga, where I would jump in the game just in time and have a chance to be one of the best on a game where thousands
would play. The funny thing is..... I dunno why.
Why does any of us have to be one of the best? Why do we have to have so many factors in our favor in order to play a decent game?
"I didn't get into beta, so I lose the head start others get..."
"I can't afford to pay for items so my char gimps out.."
"I didn't find a good guild when I needed it, so now I can't keep up.."
Whatever the reason, the result is the same: "this game sucks!" -these words spread out faster than a disease.

Often, many of us "old, experienced, mature, players" (sic) involved into brainstormings of creating the perfect game.. Yes, I did too.
Did any of you see that "perfect game"? A useless and vain project. There are still guild leaders who pride themselves of being advisors of a sort
to developers on this or that game... Fools. Don't you see that what developers really want is the community beating each-other with sticks for a
favorable spot, thus keeping the interest up? Sure you do, what you are really after in return is beta accounts for you and your guild.
You still need that head start and -oh, let me guess.. you opose server wipe at launch :P

Well, you know what? the developers all over the world already KNOW what a game should be like.
They too have seen EQ, DAoC, AC, SWG, Shadowbane, etc etc. One would think it's not hard to take a successful game and take it to the next step...
Then why Mythic makes WAR instead of DAoC 2? Why Vanguard instead of EQ 3?
Because we want something new! We want it fast to cover our boredom in the stale mmorpg world out there. We want it diferent than anything else, so we won't complain
that it "stole" elements from this or that... and to top that, a copied feature offered, isn't as good as... -insert older game name- had.
Because thay can't use DAoC's skill system or Wish's spell-weaving, or EQ's boss raids, or... They have to earn their pay.
Even a simple NPC 3D model copied means 10 less hours of paycheck. Virtual world engines? A dozen, but nobody uses them because it will take time and money
to draw each tree from scratch. It's an industry -get it through your system already! Ferrari is a great car, but nobody imitates it. You think it's the copyrights?
Let me asure you, they're easily bypassed. Besides, what copyrights would SOE violate to use elements of an older SOE game? Or Mythic? Or Sigil? Or PlayNC?
What is Aion compared to Lineage 2? What are the major diferences? Why the new title? What are the differences between MU online and Soul of the Ultimate Nation?
Really... THAT different eh? :P
Start asking yourselves the obvious questions.

Why don't we ever stick by a game and help it grow? Why do we go with the masses?
To be the devil's advocate, Dark & Light kept sending me offers to return and see what they did with it, but I never did.
DAoC's newsletters, Anarchy Online, Eve Online, etc etc, they all try to stirr our interest once again.
Vanguard had a very bad start, but the game had potential. I expected a great game from Sigil and my dissapointment kept me from being patient.
I saw the bugs and the unbalances and I left with the rest of the fleeing playerbase. But left to go where? Did I think that some free asian grinding game
would be better than Vanguard (even with the bugs)? I found out the hard way that I was wrong... But to go back to Vanguard? It falls under the category of
"allready played game" for me.
I am wrong and I am stupborn and I am too proud to go back to a game of which I spoke ill in the past...
And if my own ideas and concepts are so great, why didn't I ever join Planeshift's making? (an open source free mmorpg made by players for players)

I sit here bored, waiting for Age of Conan to launch. But you know what? I won't join the beta testing this time.
I won't read about the game any further than I already have. I won't even join the AoC forums to play it "wise and mature guild leader".
This time I will look at it with fresh eyes once more, like I used to do back when I was still enjoying games.
I will not brakedown skill trees and swing timers, study area maps and mob spawns and frequencies, I won't even consider class effectiveness and possible
group tactics or make guild plans of owning towns and forts.
I will just wait and play it when the time comes. And maybe I will gain back some of my lost naivety and amazement with the simple things.

But if you are not too stubborn as I am, maybe you should look again at the game list. You'll find that the games you always enjoyed to play are still there.
Like old clowns with a bitter smile who have seen better days. Used and abandoned. Pay them a visit. Give them a chance.
All you have to lose is grinding in some never-ending "free" game without purpose.
If some new and worthy game launches, you won't miss it. But playing anything and everything just in case they might be good and you miss your head start
is frustrating -isn't it?

Get your heads straight and down to the point. Free games are like some old arcade titles we played to pass the time: no major point or goal.
When we wanted serious adventuring we'd load a RPG, or an adventure, or even a shoot'em up (God! I still remember my 1st Doom game-night)
Pick a fun, simple, free game for the times you're bored, or absent minded, and pick a game that meant something to you and your friends for serious dedication.


PS> For the record, I haven't played ALL the games I mention (just most of them), I'm not too uptight with competing and I like the anime look on some casual games.
But I assume a side to get my point out. I also kept many thoughts out of it, in order to maintain some logic in it all.