So let me begin by sayin I’m taking a break in this post from designer discussions to wax nostalgic on an old friend.  In case you missed it, yesterday Sony announced that they are soon closing the doors on The Matrix Online.  And I have to say, it’s left me with a bit of meloncholy.  So this post is my fairwell to the MMO, and to the character I created there.  It wasn’t a great MMO, we know that.  But it had some great bits to it.  And for me, it will always hold a dear spot in my heart because of the people I met there.  MxO was one of the few times where I came into the world and played it without knowing anyone else beforehand that was playing.  And though I usually am one to solo, everything about this game screamed community, and hanging around a club one night, I picked up on some of the roleplaying there, and decided to join in.  I’m no stranger to roleplaying — hell I ran a vampire roleplaying community for five years that existed solely within the pervue of IRC chat rooms.  When I created my character though, I had no intention of roleplaying, so natch, I created a female.  But back in those days, MxO was going the way of the original SWG, so you could only have one character per server.  So I found myself in the rather interesting position of roleplaying a female character.  I am one to rarely shirk from a challenge, so I ran with it.  In the end, because of the stories I wrote for her, the personality I created for her, and the people I played around with her, she became one of my absolutely most beloved avatars. 

 
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So as some of you know (and if you don’t, then why don’t you!) I’ve embarked upon the journey of creating a company, which in turn is creating a world.  And hopefully, you can see in the first five seconds of looking at Windstorm Studios’ site, that the world we’re creating is not going to be in your typical high fantasy setting.  And we’re in good company.  Right now there are more MMO’s coming out in a non-typical fantasy setting than ever before.   With games like Jumpgate Evolution, Champions Online, The Agency, and overly wordy Star Wars: The Old Republic looming on the horizon, players will soon have more selections than ever when deciding on the type of world they want to visit.  But why has it taken this long?  And why do we still see games being released every year set in that traditional fantasy setting?  Well, it’s mostly because fantasy gives you so much for free, from a design standpoint, and doesn’t present nearly as much of a challenge as designing your game in a contemporary or futuristic setting does.

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So it’s Monday, and last week a veritable shitstorm was kicked up betweeen a games review site and an MMO developer, because of an incredily low review score.   I’m sure most of you have already followed the drama in its entirety, but if you haven’t, well you can see the original review here, Darkfall developer Tasos’ original reply, Eurogamer’s blogged reply to the reply, and then Tasos reply to Eurgamer’s reply.  Heheh.  Yeah.   Hey if nothing else I like to perform a public service.    Now, first, I don’t have a whole lot to say about the original discussion itself, except for this:  I’ve worked in the game industry for the past fifteen years.  Bad reviews get written all the time.  You may think think they’re justified, or you may think they’re shit.  But regardless of what you think, if you have a beef with a review, this is what happens.   The producer of the title picks up the phone and calls the Editor-in-Chief at the review site, and says What the fuck?  And they hash it out over the phone or over drinks at the local bar or whatever.  But professional developers don’t air their dirty laundry out on the their public fucking forums, unless they’re just looking for publicity.   Which apparently is exactly what Aventurine wanted, and what they got.  And then you sure as hell don’t respond in a public blog.  Both sides of this issue have acted more like zombie forum fan boys, and less like professionals, than they should have.  While the drama has certainly been entertaining, the fact of the matter is the vast majority of us should never have heard about any of it. 

 
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