MetaFilter posts tagged with MMORPG

"Thanks for ruining the game for me. Really."

waraw — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:28:17 -0800

MMORPG Griefing ... for Science! Twixt fought his fellow players in City Of Heroes to win. But he used methods that, despite being legal within the rules of the game, the rest of the community hated. Then the player behind the hero unmasked as Loyola University media professor David Myers, author of "The Sad & Curious Tale of Twixt" (.doc), a sociological study of the unwritten rules in MMORPG's. Not entirely unlike the epic tale of Fansy The Famous Bard.

It's as if Apple dissolved Microsoft

waraw — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:25:35 -0800

"Today we destroyed BoB." The giant sandbox-galaxy of EVE-Online (previously) was rocked this week by a defection from Band of Brothers, the largest alliance in the game (and no stranger to controversy), to the Something Awful-related alliance Goonswarm. The Mittani, the goon spymaster, explains what happened, after all of BoB's assets were given over, the alliance disbanded, and the name reincorporated by goons. Via BoB controlled a huge swath of the galaxy, and had thousands of players under its banner. The actions of a few have changed gameplay for all of them in quite dramatic fashion.

Computer game forecasts EOTWAWKI by 2042

stbalbach — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:16:38 -0800

According to the Global Extinction Awareness System (GEAS, by the Institute For the Future) - a simulation based on "the worlds’s first massively multiplayer forecasting game" - by the year 2042 AD there is a potentially terminal combination of five so-called “super-threats” which represent a collision of environmental, economic, and social risks. Acting together, the five super-threats may irreversibly overwhelm homo sapiens ability to survive. Spokesperson for United Nations Secretary General “We are grateful for GEAS’ work, and we treat their latest forecast with seriousness and profound gravity.”[[press release]]. The game runs from Oct.8 to Nov. 6, players wanted.

Worlds within worlds

Miles Long — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:11:04 -0800

The record has finally been set for an Onion article (video, actually) to turn into real life. It's now a real game. You can download it. It's free. time: about 1 day. The subject is MMORPGS (pronounced 'more pigs') and how popular they are. (more inside for descriptions) Essentially the joke of the Onion piece (but see it anyway, it's funny) is that the next World of Warcraft will let you play someone playing WoW. The story the very next day is about an entry in a game design contest that is a builder-manager type game about managing a virtual world. Yes. You watch forum posts to see the popularity of changes you made. Fake forum posts.

The System loves you for your money, not your soul.

Kattullus — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:40:15 -0800

In this way, Lu Yang became one of the "RMB gamers" she disdains. More than 10,000 RMB was quickly and nearly imperceptibly spent. In the game, the "queen" possessed fearsome power. She carried out vengeance for herself and her friends, she accepted entreaties, and she protected the caravans of the kingdom. At the same time, she went out with the heroes to invade other kingdoms. Her reputation spread far and wide. [...] "Long live the Queen!" People bowed to her in submission. That was the high point for Lu Yang on ZT Online, and for that one fleeting moment, she felt that the time and money she had spent was worth it.

The System is a translated Chinese article examining ZT Online, an MMORPG that has taken fleecing gamers to a new level.

A World Awaits Inside Your Computer

Dave Faris — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:39:22 -0800

Second Skin [is a documentary that] takes an intimate look at computer gamers whose lives have been transformed by the emerging genre of Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs). World of Warcraft, Second Life, and Everquest allow millions of users to simultaneously interact in virtual spaces. Second Skin introduces us to couples who have fallen in love without meeting, disabled players who have found new purpose, addicts, Chinese gold-farming sweatshop workers, wealthy online entrepreneurs and legendary guild leaders - all living in a world that doesn't quite exist. (quicktime)

People who play gnomes are more likely to be annoying in real life.

mek — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:57:49 -0800

Nick Yee's Daedalus Project (touched on previously) is dedicated to the study of human behaviour in MMOs. His recent dissertation names "The Proteus Effect": a correlation between MMO characters' appearances, and their players' behaviors. "In the final study (pdf), I showed that the Proteus Effect persists outside of the virtual environment. Placing someone in a taller avatar changes how they consequently negotiate in a face-to-face setting." His archives cover a lot of ground, and current MMO players can help by taking the survey. For a little lighter reading, refer to his critique of Internet Addiction Disorder, a "condition" that started as a joke, but almost made it into the DSM-V.

But what about the flying cars?

straight — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:38:11 -0800

Why science fiction is hard. Inspired by reports of a creative new, Rube-Goldberg spamming technique in World of Warcraft, MetaFilter's own Charlie Stross imagines trying to explain gold farming to someone from 1977. (Previously: 1, 2, 3)

The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer

chunking express — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:12:06 -0800

The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer.

DeMMOcracy

uri — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:24:37 -0800

MMORPG maker to create oversight committee of elected players -- The makers of Eve Online, are taking a bold step in combating charges (previously discussed here) of favoritism towards one of the dominant in-game groups: holding elections for player ombudsman who will be flown to Iceland to audit the company's practices and report back to the game's subscribers.

"She's not dead! She's just naked!"

ZachsMind — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 16:06:56 -0800

"What are they talking about?" Was it just an April Fools' joke? Are they really gonna end Red Vs. Blue: arguably the most successful machinima series ever? Will Blood Gulch be silent of one-liners and snide comments once more, or is this a blatant attempt by Rooster Teeth to drum up interest in their 100th episode? Considering the fact they started it four years ago on April Fools Day, it's really hard to tell. (surprise! no youtube links!)

Band of Developers

Snyder — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 15:11:20 -0800

A hacker breaks into the forums of the guild Band of Brothers on the MMORPG Eve, where he discovers an Eve devolper, called t20, is not only a high-ranking member of the alliance, but has been feeding BoB expensive and rare in-game items. CCP, the company who runs EVE, denies any wrong doing, before it is revealed that CCP knew about t20's abuses for over six months. Players are not happy.

First major open-source MMO?

®@ — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 07:56:18 -0800

Raising for Ryzom. Saga Of Ryzom's parent company is having some sort of undisclosed trouble, and a group of users are raising funds to purchase the source code and art assets. So far, they've raised 60k in euros.

Dark Elf meets Iksar, torrid romance on the Plane Of Knowledge ensues

bigmusic — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 16:31:40 -0800

Our characters met in North Freeport in EverQuest. His dark elf cleric was on top of the roofs, an area which I didn't know characters could access. I sent him a /tell, asking how he got up there, and he kindly showed me how. [EQ, F, 22] Massive Multiplayer Online games make for "impossible" romances.

Froods and Leets and Yalms! Oh my!

ZachsMind — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 08:00:50 -0800

Anarchy Online is free until January! ...but is it worth it?

Is that a sword, or are you just happy to see me?

cleverusername — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:48:48 -0800

Love in the MMORPG world can be something of an odd topic for those that haven't spent countless hours playing one of these online games. Virtual marriages in the game and online relationships that became real life married couples are odd to the average person. Especially when the consequences just go too far.

Keep your friends close?

heresiarch — Sun, 14 May 2006 10:37:26 -0800

A little over a year ago, the Guiding Hand Social Club issued a stunning press release - after months of infiltration and planning they had fulfilled an assassination contract on the CEO of a major corporation and ransacked the corporation's hangers, stealing almost 20 billion ISK, worth over $16,000 USD at the time. See PCGamer's excellent detailed description of the event: pages 1, 2, 3, 4. As synthetic worlds like Eve-Online and World of Warcraft gain popularity, what should we make of this kind of behavior? Eve's own players respond. Also, a response with a little more perspective. And what's going to happen when the IRS catches on?

Yet Another Time-Waster

DataPacRat — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:28:49 -0800

The Endless Forest is a strange piece of software (that can be a screensaver), where you control a deer in a, well, endless forest. And so do a bunch of other online players. And you can interact all you like with them - with the minor caveat that deer can't talk.

PVP + in game funeral = ?

bigmusic — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:12:14 -0800

In the World of Warcraft, Serenity Now - a hardcore Player-verus-Player (PvP) guild - attacked an in-game memorial service held by another guild for a guild member who passed away in real life. They made a video of the exploit, apparently for recruitment purposes. In their wake they left many questions...

Why do we have sex in games? Simple, it's part of our nature.

signal — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:13:52 -0800

^NSFWMMOrgy: No more logging on and feeling sheepish 'cause you wanna know where the bordello is first. No more endless search through horrible shops finding implements for you and your fiancee who's 3000 miles away to have fun with. ^NSFW

Project Entropia

Pretty_Generic — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 06:44:31 -0800

Man spends $100k on imaginary nightclub to tax those who hunt its native dinosaurs. Man is likely to make a profit. <bgsound>

Anti-Japan War Online:

bigmusic — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 04:57:12 -0800

Anti-Japan War Online "The game will allow players, especially younger players, to learn from history. They will get a patriotic feeling when fighting invaders to safeguard their motherland" The background for "Anti-Japan War Online" is the Japanese invasion of China during World War II, from 1937 through 1945. Nothing like a good MMORPG to foster a little patriotism.

The Emperor knows of your loyalty

kliuless — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 18:46:14 -0800

Vader Boosts Morale [via golublog]

I love Scotch! (Unrelated, but true.)

hank_14 — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 15:06:13 -0800

Flashy Cars, Flashier Avatars: Each project looks remarkably similar, but the differences are enough to provide hours and hours of fun, be those hours in the combat-oriented venue of Sherwood, the rodent slaughter of the Ratinator, the sparkling conversations and fast cars of Marian's World, or what have you. Enjoy. [Incidentally, it's hard for me to imagine this hasn't been posted yet, but I looked, really I did, and I didn't see it.]

Hello Kitty MMORPG Near Launch

etoile — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 14:51:26 -0800

It's like EverQuest...only pink. Well, maybe not exactly like EverQuest. But Sanrio is entering the world of online gaming with their new MMORPG, Hello Kitty Online World. Preliminary views indicate that it's going to be a fully-realized 3D world where players can control both their own avatar and an "angel," which seems a little bit like a witch's familiar. The Sanrio characters are, of course, NPCs - you can't make Hello Kitty punch Spottie Dottie, because that's just not what Kitty-chan would do! There will be countries, populated with player homes (you can decorate it with a Titanic poster!), and you can also adventure, train, and form alliances.