The big news in indie MMO life today is that Shroud of the Avatar is now available on Steam Greenlight for voting. If you want Shroud of the Avatar to be available through Steam, head on over there and cast your vote. Games that get Greenlit on Steam often become available for purchase during an Early Access phase, which means that the community has direct access to the development team in order to give input and feedback for a game during its development. Games purchased through Steam also get updated through the client and take your games with you.

It's no secret that we're fans of Shroud of the Avatar around here. Most of us have been playing MMOGs for quite some time (I'm edging on becoming older than dirt myself) and we're excited that there is a resurgence of games that cater to those of us who were early adopters of the MMORPG genre. Modern games with an old school feel are pretty rad and totally my jam.

Watch Richard Garriott wear a puffy shirt and fence. Why? More like why not!!

Update: in the time it took me to write and publish this article, Shroud of the Avatar has been successfully Greenlit by the Steam community. Congrats to Portalarium!

Other Games On Greenlight

Shroud of the Avatar isn't the only game up for Greenlight that I've been following. I've written about Albion Online quite a bit, and my most recent jam, Project Gorgon, are both on Greenlight for voting. Because of this, I decided to see what else is out there. While I'm sure there are plenty of quality games up for vote, there is also a ton of really, really weird shit out there. Super Zombie Poop 2k In Space was a title I came across before I set my filter to just MMORPGs, which is when I encountered Grass Simulator. Yeahhhhh. It's somehow a multiplayer game...about grass. There are grazing cows that don't moo, trees that flow in the breeze, and you can run around in first person mode with a gun that doesn't really do much except shoot bullets. It's kind of a pointless game, but simulators are all the rage these days. My heart only has room enough for one. Two, if I ever decide I need to be a bear in addition to a goat. 

Personally, I don't go to Steam to find new games through Greenlight. I usually end up on Greenlight because I've already been following a game and I want to vote for them, because I want the game to succeed and I believe that every little bit helps. Greenlight itself can be overwhelming, and even though I can mouse-hover titles for a sneak peak bubble to pop up, I don't see this feature being used correctly or even thought of when developers write up what their games are about.

These are the games I have voted yes for recently:

I'm not sure about Grass Simulator. I'm pretty turned off by the amount of games using gifs for their game cover tiles. There are so many of them that it becomes overwhelming. Some other games do look interesting, but I kind of hate visiting Steam pages because Steam insists that we're still stuck in the 90s and autoplaying videos is something cool (hey Steam, it's not cool, okay?).


Even though I like voting for games on Greenlight that I want to see succeed, I generally donate directly to the game through their websites and other fundraisers, rather than purchasing through Steam. From my understanding, I'm an outlier here. I'm not a sucker for Steam games – I know too many people who end up buying so many games they never play or really have much interest in and just buy these games because they're cheap. If I want to back a game, I back it. If it goes on sale on Steam, I don't get all sad in the face about the sale. For me, backing a game shows support, and I'm fine with paying full price. I'm not willy-nilly with my money, so I'm not over here tossing it all over the place with wild abandon at every single game that looks shiny. I prefer to only support games I'm actually interested in. Two other games that have my full support, that are not on Greenlight, are Trials of Ascension and Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen. I want all of these games to succeed, and they all have my full support.

Watching games I care about succeed makes me happy like this goat

What are the games on Greenlight you're giving your yes votes to? Are there any you're going out of your way to say no to? Do you think that Greenlight is another way that indie developers can get exposure to their games, or does it not matter? Do you believe in supporting games you're truly interested in, or do you cash your entire paycheck over to Valve every Steam sale?


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Vendolyn's been playing MMOs since 1999, although Vendolyn in-game often becomes a long-term shelved alt. When she's not gaming, she's likely marathoning some questionable TV show or babbling about music to no end. She really likes goats.

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