Profile: gurugeorge
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• • Does Anyone Know of Any Famous People Who Play MMO's?

  • A modestly famous academic economist, David Friedman (son of Milton Friedman) plays WoW.

  • Posted: 9/24/08 7:00 PM
    General Discussion
• • KOTOR MMO?!?!?11!?

  • Originally posted by Douhk
    

    Say what now??

    If it's made by bioware and is anything like KOTOR I and II then I'll be buying this game, exterminating all of my former friends, build myself a $5,000 dollar computer and just sit there until I die of starvation. Probably the neatest thing I've ever heard of for MMOs in a long time... this could be simply amazing.

    I realize I'm a little late in the ball-game when it comes to figuring this out, but what do others think about with a KOTOR MMO? Have any hype / interest in something like this? Would you prefer it to be a SP RPG like it has been for the past two games? Do you think bioware would be able to pull something like this off by making a KOTOR that not only exceeds both of it's predecessors by two-fold, but is also made playable in an MMO universe from the SP perspective (which is asking alot)?

    I could only hope... and that it's released somewhere before 2011, even that is a long time to wait, but considering info of production is just getting out then I wouldn't think it'd be any sooner.

    If it has anytyhing like the feel of KOTOR/Mass Effect in an MMO context, it's going to be huuuuuge.

  • Posted: 9/24/08 6:55 PM
    General Discussion
• • WoW <-<--<--->-->->WaR?

  • Originally posted by Porfat
    

    Originally posted by Rasputin
    

    Originally posted by Porfat
    

    I'm not trying to diminish what J. R. R. Tolkien created.   Just pointing out that his creation did not come out of thin air.   He did not create Dwarves or Elves.  They were both products of Germanic folklore.

    As Lordcvicek pointed out the name of his original creation the Orc comes from Old English.  Which is a Germanic language as Angles and Saxons and the Jutes were Germanic tribes.

    Of course he had other influences but I'll stand by this statement that his work primarily draws from Germanic folklore.

    He drew from other sources.   And the Lord of the Rings was a highly creative work that had great influence.    These statements are not mutually exclusive.

    I just trying to point out that its a little silly to say which work of fantasy came first.   There were stories of monsters and magic before literacy.    One of the first written works is an epic fantasy.   The story of Gilgamesh.

     

    You are missing the point that I made earlier.

    Tolkien's originality is in the overall concept of creating a world, that is totally detached from our own. Everything before him is tied into history in one way or another. Even your Gilgamesh example (he might even have lived!).

    Inspirations? Sure! It is UNAVOIDABLE. You cannot name a single artist, that isn't inspired by something else. If you could, then what he created would be uninteresting, because it would not have anything to do with humans.

    
     

    Tolkien is not the first to create fantasy worlds and he read some of these creations. 

    Read Lord Dunsany.  He created the God's of Pegana.   This is very original and otherworldy fantasy.  It is definitely not set on earth.    He also wrote King of the Elfland's Daughter.   Sounds like post Tolkien but was written in 1924.  

    He also read William Morris who invented entire fantasy worlds.   Also E. E.  Eddison.   Tolkien knew of these guys and was influenced by them.

     

    To get back to MMO's.  There is a fantasy MMORPG out now who's basis is not influenced by Tolkien.   Age of Conan which is set in the Hyborian Age that Robert E. Howard invented.    It is definitely a world and it was definitely fantasy. 

    Creating a fantasy world is not unique to Tolkien and he did not do it first.   His work had tremendous influence but Middle Earth was not creatio ex nihilo. 

     

    Another rather unsung influence on a lot of modern s-f and fantasy is a writer called Jack Vance, who back in the 40s wrote some stories about "The Dying Earth", which influenced many, many writers in both s-f and fantasy fields.  One of the major influences of Vance on modern computer games was his concept of the Magician.  The original D&D concept of the Mage/Wizard came from Vance rather than any other influence (i.e. it wasn't based on Gandalf) - Vance's idea was that the magic syllables for spells were so mind-bending that you could only keep one or two spells in your memory at a time, and when you fired the spell, it was like your mind was glad to be rid of the weird syllables,and you had to make an effort to "store" the spell in your memory again.  Sound familiar?    Vance also had his Wizards have all sorts of peculiar spells with great names, really original (e.g. "The Spell of Forlorn Encystment" - which instantly transported your enemy into a hole somewhere miles underground), and the huge variety of D&D spells was influenced by this originality.  People forget that in Tolkein magic is extremely rare; the whole idea of magic being ubiquitous is more from other writers, including Vance, than from Tolkein.  Tolkein is more an inspiration in terms of "world-building" - i.e. in terms of creating a "lore" for a game that has some consistency and coherence and interest.  He just did it so well it's an inspiration.

    There's even a kind of vague link between Vance and the Warhammer mythos: the Warhammer mythos was heavily influenced by Michael Moorcock, whose "Dancers at the End of Time" trilogy was directly inspired by Vance's "The Dying Earth".

  • Posted: 9/24/08 6:44 PM
    General Discussion
• • So after playing mmorpg exclusively for two years I find it hard to play single players games

  • Originally posted by SgtFrog
    

    So after playing mmorpg exclusively for two years I find it hard to play single players games

    last single player game I got and completed was FF12 about two years ago got about 200+ hours in that game and the shortly after that my ps2 broke and I never bothered to get a ps3 or a 360, no games had interested me. So I have been playing mmorpg exclusively for two years, only other game I have been playing was TF2, but that's a multi player.....anyway I recently got a XBOX360 about 3 weeks ago and so far iv only got a total of ten hours of gaming in it.. I just find it hard to stay entertained by a single player game for long periods of time like I used too...it just seems so empty know...

    so hehe...anyone else in my situation ;p
    lol.
    Maybe il get back into single player games in time when I get used to it again hehe

    
    

    I had a phase like that, but recently I've gotten back into sp games - the thing about an sp game is that you can get really immersed in your own adventure, and you suspend disbelief about the deadness of the rest of the world.  But the game has to be really good quality - only AAA single player games do it for me now, things like Bioshock and Mass Effect.

  • Posted: 9/24/08 6:29 PM
    General Discussion
• • I keep going back to this game how do I have fun long term?

  • I think there are a lot of players for whom CoX is the one MMO they keep coming back to again and again, but only play for a month or two.  While you're into it, it's the most addictive combat of any MMO out there, the most spectacular and fun, especially in big teams; but the repetitiveness of the map layouts eventually gets boring again (not the tilesets and missions per se, I don't think they're actually any less varied than other MMOs, it's the fact that there are only a few map layouts for each type of mission that makes the game feel more repetitive than it actually is).  So then you unsubscribe and play your other favourite MMO.

    But then at some point, the memories come back, and you start thinking about this great but flawed MMO again.  Perhaps you have an idea for a character, or you just remember what fun it was playing one of your toons, and get the itch to play it again.

    For this reason, I think CoX is always going to be around.  It's not like other MMOs and lacks a few things, but has its own special charms that keep bringing you back.

  • Posted: 9/20/08 10:46 AM
    City of Heroes