MMO BinA Geek's Look at Massively Multiplayer Online Games

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I have played more than a few online games, and I have been in many bad groups and a few good ones. When I first started playing EvE again, I only did so because my cousin was willing to play too, thus giving me at least one other person I could interact with in game that I could trust, and enjoy playing with. We worked together, building up our assets and enjoying the various options the game opened up to us. Eventually, we started reaching the point where two people wasn’t enough, and so we started looking at corporations.

Corporations in EvE are the same as guilds, fleets and other grandiose names for what is essentially an expanding and contracting group of players that pledge temporary allegiance to each other.

I searched high and low for what I thought were corporations that would fit our needs in the game, only to be disappointed many times. They were either not as “set-up” as they made it seem in their recruitment, or they were too focused on one aspect of the game to provide longer term enjoyment for me, as a multi-specialized character.

Eventually, I got lucky and found a group of players from when I used to play the game, and we joined up with them.

In the end though, I realized that a good corporation for me, is one where I can trust those within the corporation to help me look out for my best interests, while also using my talents to help out the corporation as a whole.

A good corporation puts the needs of its members first, thus building trust. A good corporation should be multifaceted, allowing players to explore various things in game, or with the ability to easily provide expansion into other interests.

Of course, these are just a few thoughts from my own experiences, and I am sure that most players would have different qualifications on what makes a good corporation, fleet or guild, so let me know in the comments below.

One of the things I enjoy about EvE online over most online games is that the marketplace is completely controlled by those playing the game. Sure, there are other games that also allow this, but most only to a limited extent. I’ve heard of people dominating a local market in World of Warcraft for an item or two, but I’ve never heard of a guild taking over running the whole market for a city.

In EvE, if it wasn’t for the players, there wouldn’t be a market. The NPC’s only sell a few items, and they are mostly for new players to get certain items for a fair price, but even then, it is limited in amount and location. CCP occasionally seeds the universe with blueprints and new items, but since adding invention skills to the game, this has stopped, and so there are no higher technology blueprint originals in the game.

Recently, a major corporation that supplied a noticeable portion of the ships, ore and certain reactions to the marketplace was taken down, and people are already reeling at the inflation due to the decrease in supply, and the more competitive demand over what remains.

Of course, having it be completely player driven can cause frustrations. I’ve been to many stations that don’t have any ships, modules, or ammo for me, but it only adds to the usefulness of those that take the time to become logistics and industrial in nature.

I hope more games take a look at the EvE economy, and take a page from their book. It seems to me that many upcoming science fiction online games are taking advantage of this, but fantasy games and current timeline games are missing the boat. Put the market in your players hands, and watch what happens. If nothing else, it is exciting to monitor and watch evolve.

Thanks to ForeverGeek, I found out about a new game that is coming out soon called Parabellum.

It is a semi-futuristic free to play, massively multiplayer online first person shooter.

‘Parabellum will set the standard of what to expect from Free2Play games,‘ said David Demers, Associate Producer of Parabellum. ‘Bringing quality Triple-A titles to the Free-to-Play market raises the bar for all and sets GamersFirst apart from the rest.‘

While I am currently engaged in playing Team Fortress 2 as much as possible, I think there is still room in the industry for a larger game. I’ve constantly wanted to play Team Fortress 2 with a larger map, and fifty plus players.

The interesting thing about Parabellum is that there will be a character and weapon development system that should keep people hooked, and give it a little bit of the role-playing aspect that most people are used to when it comes to online games.

This is also where they will probably monetize the game, through paid upgrades giving people with money the ability to gain a leg up on those that can’t or won’t spend the money.

I am definitely interested in games that are free to play, as my budget for online gaming is stretched pretty thin already, but I’d rather pay a one time fee like I did with Team Fortress 2, rather than having people pay for an advantage over me.

Over on MMOQuests, there is a great post asking what you value your MMO character at. Some people will probably find the personal figures that people place on their characters a little ridiculous, but they don’t truly understand the time and effort it takes to build up a character, and sometimes even a whole identity and personality for your toon.

For example, EverQuest II. My characters (I have a lot) don’t have the greatest of gear. They don’t have raid gear, they don’t have mythicals. They have a LOT of hours dedicated to them though, and I put a lot of time and care into each one, especially the ones over level 80. Of course I’d never sell them for real, but if I were to associate a price with the account in general, it would probably be somewhere around the $10,000 mark. Keep in mind this is an emotional price tag. Do I honestly think my account is worth that much and would I really sell it for such an outrageous price? No, of course not. It’s simply what the account is worth to me.

One interesting thing worth noting is that each game has its own values when it comes to characters. I have seen many EvE Online characters on Ebay, especially back when it was “allowed” to sell such items on there, and they went for around $20 USD per every one million skill points. Add in some assets on an older character, and quite easily the characters could fetch upwards of $500 to $1000 real dollars. Compare this to other games, that are easier to gain an upper hand in or they are less popular, and you will find that there are characters that, no matter how powerful, will never sell for over $200.

Why would someone buy a character, something that has been customized for the original user? The person purchasing the character instantly has a leg up on the game, and can ignore the tedium that is the early levels in all games.

Looking at my own characters, I’ve never placed much value on them. For me, my characters are just a representation of an ideal, and part of a game. It would be odd to me to get hundreds of dollars for a character in a game. I paid my subscription, I was entertained, and so the true value is in the entertainment. I understand that those buying characters should pay a convenience fee based on the level or game value of a character, but some people get quite attached to their characters and ask for a fee equivalent to a high end digital camera, mid-range computer or used car.

The idea that a character is worth the subscription fee per month, multiplied by the characters age, really only works in games like EvE online where the character can continue to train, despite the user not being logged in.

The real sale and trade of characters is an interesting world, and while the game creators and players may not like it, there is definitely a market for characters as people, just like in the rest of their life, look for shortcuts past the boring parts.

In the end, other than an ultra-expensive amount, there is no way I would sell my character currently and this is because I am still enjoying the game, and value the entertainment that it provides. Once I am bored with the game, then that will change, and I would be willing to pass it on to the next person at a fee that lets me buy into the next game that I want to play.

Head on over to MMOQuests, and let them know what you value your character at.

After the issue the day before with not having the right skills to fit a ship for a night of fun in EvE Online, I ended up taking a break from the game for a day, and installed Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. I played a few rounds of co-operative campaign with my cousin, and we ended up winning each round.

It was weird to not be playing against humans. The more I play online, the more I want to play online, and the competition of being versus another person can bring tactics and game play that an A.I. just can’t replicate.

I have a feeling that many people that play MMO’s or other online games feel as I do, and while this wasn’t always the case for me, it is interesting that this transition has occurred. Why is gaming against someone else, more fun than beating the computer?

I didn’t really play EvE Online today. I was really excited about an operation that the alliance I am in was going to be involved in, but my excitement was short-lived as I was told, in not so many words, not to come. See, they have a very specific fitting that they like to use for fleets performing certain actions, and I don’t currently have the skills to run that set-up.

It is really frustrating to me to have these limitations put on me as I try to play a game. Having other users set rules on how I can interact with a game that has nearly no rules is frustrating, but as part of a corporation, that is part of an alliance, I have to make certain sacrifices in order to have access to amazing events, technology, and parts of the EvE Online universe.

One of the biggest things that people have to adjust to in EvE is the breadth of skills available in the game. It isn’t like most games where you choose a class, and then you are stuck being that class for your entire existence. Things in EvE aren’t so set in stone. My character used to be an industrialist. I used to mine, haul ore, refine ore, and other such tasks. Now, I have spent months learning how to effectively use my character for combat, and while it is not yet near the upper echelons, it is quickly becoming more and more effective at this task.

Had you asked me when I first started playing, if I’d ever be interested in PvE or PvP, I probably would have laughed at you, as I had more interest in mining, inventing, and manufacturing at that point in my online gaming experience. Choose your skills wisely though, as a focused player, has better opportunities within the right corporation or alliance.