MMO BinA Geek's Look at Massively Multiplayer Online Games

Today, I had a hard time getting off EVE Online. Despite playing for three hours, every time I was ready to get off the game, something would happen, and there would be a call to arms. I did end up getting involved on seven kills, and so that was very exciting, but my wife was less than happy at how stuck to the game I was.

A simple concept in EVE, jump bridges make the experience of living out in lawless space feel much safer. I can get from point to point, near a powerful player owned station to another in an instant, sometimes saving me upwards of ten or twenty jumps through normal space. I really think that any alliance worth their weight in EVE needs to take the time to build up the local sovereignty needed to enable jump bridges. Even if it just allows you to bypass a single potential gate camp.

One of the great things about EVE Online is that, even though I am away from my home computer, visiting family, my training in EVE continues in real time. I wish more games had some element where even when I am away from the game, I could still earn something in one way or another.

It is hard to focus on EVE Online, when I know there isn’t much going on that I can participate in with my corporation. I get focused more on Team Fortress 2, and Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 when I go through times like this. How do people cope with the draw of other “fancier graphics” games? Or do you crave the MMO experience?

Taking a look at the games list on MMORPG.com, it is easy to come to the conclusion that 2009 will be one of the largest releases for MMO’s in the history of the genre. With around twenty-two titles set for release, not including other games that haven’t yet been properly announced or aren’t included due to being foreign titles, and you have an interesting issue: will there be too many MMO titles out?

MMOQuests recently mentioned her need for a new video card and started me thinking about hardware requirements for gaming. EvE Online recently dropped their Classic graphics and moved its players to a Premium Lite which required a faster, better video card. Of course “faster and better” were relative, as online gaming doesn’t usually require video cards that are at today’s top of the line, as they have to push out pixels to tens of thousands of players, but the fact remains that gaming can be an expensive hobby. Have you ever been left behind thanks to a hardware limitation? Let me know in the comments below.

This won’t be anything new for those of you that have researched Goonfleet, but just five minutes ago as of this posting, I participated in an operation that saw a pilot, that was new to the game, and had purchased a character, get all of his assets taken away and a Rorqual destroyed. If you want to see the details, check it out on the Goon Kill Board. Poor guy…

My main character in EvE Online can do a myriad of tasks, and today, I was helping with logistics (moving ships), only to realize that I had run out of time to play today, just as a big fleet was forming for battle. Since I enjoy fighting more than logistics, I am a bit bummed, but work calls…

I will probably go into much more detail later on, but has anyone else ever noticed that Team Fortress 2 has incredible balance issues with three potential “uber-classes” with the upgraded scout, sniper and spy? Played an hour with my cousin tonight, and was tired of getting bonked, head shot killed, and back stabbed.

An old and dear friend of mine just let me know that I shouldn’t have put “MMO” in my domain due to the number of MMO blogs already out there. Have I made a grave mistake in the selection of my domain? I chose it because I wanted to talk about multiple online games but wanted something descriptive. Thoughts and ideas anyone?