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Sometimes, the best gamesmanship isn't in the games.  The virtual reality chess match going on between Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) and Sigil continues to illustrate to me that we are just pawns in the great game of life, I mean online games… (Repeat after me, ten times: I’m not addicted, I could quit anytime.)

I have a true outsider opinion on the whole "Did you hear that Sony took over publishing for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes?"  I have played EQ2 and Star Wars Galaxies (SWG), but I have to admit that I didn't pick up SWG until the great schism known as the CU followed by the NGE.  If you don't know what those acronyms stand for, then you are out of the loop, and need to do your homework.  We'll wait here for you, go ahead.

SOE is the current party-pooper attracting all of the attention for how to run a game into the ground with SWG.  I will, however, contend that on the other end of that spectrum, EQ2 has been brought back from the brink of destruction.  I played EQ2 when it first shipped and I did not renew after the 30 days that came with the box.  About a year after the game went on my shelf to gather dust, a friend of mine sent an email extolling the virtues of the game, and it sounded like a completely different virtual world than the one I had panned.

Low and behold, I went back and found an entirely revamped game that was compelling, fun and able to fit into my many different play styles (please see my previous article about how I play in short bursts, long bursts, all at varied intensities).  The crafting system is deep, and there is solo content as well as group and guild content.  So before we go throwing dirt at SOE as the destroyer of all things good and wholesome, take a look at the progress brought about in EQ2. 

By the way, if you haven't played EQ2 in a while, give it a whirl; it might hold you over until Vanguard ships (the date of course has been pushed back, again).  Don’t even get me started on delivery dates.  I hate them.  I am one of those players who doesn’t mind the “We’ll ship it when it’s done” answer to the shipment date question.  Finish the game, make it pretty, and then send it to me.  I’m not a very stout beta tester (again see previous article about being a beta tester), so I want a game to arrive complete.  However, if you are going to publish a date, then please try to at least be close to the target.  Missing by six plus months means that there are such major changes afoot that we may not recognize the game when it finally ships.  How the delay is caused by, or enhanced by, the switch in publishers, I do not know.

Moving on to why SOE should be beaten about the head and shoulders: the SWG ship known as the SS Titanic.  I never played the game before the latest in a long line of controversial changes, but I have to say that SWG did little to compel me to start plunking down even the incremental monthly fee via the Station program.  The game continues to appear half-baked, yet it has been on the market for years.  I can forgive graphics within older games, but the whole experience was flawed, from poor quests, to difficult combat mechanics.  I even had a friend who is level 70 run me around for a quick tour and he said, "Let's go log into WoW."

An interesting question arising out of the change in publishers is: how will Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and EQ2 share the SOE limelight?  NCSoft does a very good job of separate but equal for its stable of powerhouses, but they are all such different games.  Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and EQ2 are second or third cousins, so will the similarity call into question who is getting the better support?  Will EQ2 be sent to the back burner, will Vanguard be treated as the step-brother or will they both be "full-steam ahead?"  These are questions that only time will answer.  By the time Vanguard ships, EQ2 will be two years old (or close to it). 

Even crazier questions start popping into my head like: will Vanguard be included in the Station Access program, and if so, do I consider that a blessing or a curse?  I have mixed feelings on the whole Station Access program.  While my pocketbook enjoys the savings, the gamer in me wonders if the Station subsidy is the only way some of these games will survive.  Sometimes, the weak should be culled from the flock.  In a previous employment I did a lot of work with television channel subscriptions and direct deals for channels - deals like “Mr. Medeor, you can buy ESPN at this exorbitant rate, but you also must buy ESPN Classic.”  Well, they bought them both and we shipped them out to customers, whether or not they wanted ESPN Classic.  Does that mean that the umpty-gagillion subscribers to ESPN should count towards ESPN Classic's subscriber base, or does that mean that ESPN Classic should go back onto the dusty film shelves that such crap comes from?  I'll go with the latter.  I don't mean to start a debate on ESPN versus ESPN Classic, but you get my drift.

All of this being said, I'm definitely in the camp of Wait and See when it comes to the change in publishers.  The gang running Sigil is saying the right things and showing the right fun factor.  Let's hope they can continue to learn and grow and garner some good out of SOE's experience.