by Jeff Woleslagle on Nov 23, 2009
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Ah, Thanksgiving week. The pilgrims abandoned the old world in search of a new, more promising one and found some friendly natives along the way. If you're given to exploring more than acheiving in MMOGs, that might roughly encapsulate some of your best in-game experiences. But with just about every MMO released, the world size is shrinking, and not in a Friedman-esque "world is flat" kind of way. We'll look at some of the ways game world size is determined, ask whether the explorer types are a doomed breed, and link to two exclusive EverQuest 2 and Star Trek Online interviews and more great Ten Ton Hammer content in today's Loading... Pilgrim's Regress (online version).
You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse (
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).
Here are today's top 5 Pulse results:
target="_blank">World of Warcraft Dungeons and DragonsBiggest movers this month:
Torchlight (UP 20 to #14) Dragon Age: Origins (UP 6 to #11) Star Trek Online (UP 6 to #10) Recent ReleasesIt's the week where we celebrate two cultures setting aside their differences to give thanks for what they have over a good meal. It's about the least objectionable holiday of them all, but somehow we got pilgrims confused with smallpox-spreading Conquistadors and bloodthirsty cavalrymen. The original pilgrims were just fleeing a harsh situation in hopes of a little freedom and found some neighborly companions in the process, which hints at why some of us still play MMORPGs.
The pilgrims probably had a notion that our game worlds are shrinking. It's probably as much a matter of perspective as facts, but the hard data is pretty convincing. Richard Bartle concluded that EverQuest's Norrath was about the size of Singapore, or 700 square kilometers. Estimates peg Guild Wars's Tyria, at about 300 sq. km. World of Warcraft's two main continents at launch weighed in at about 113 square kilometers, so with Outland and Northrend I'm guessing Azeroth covers about 200 - 250 sq. km. at present. I had thought world size would continue this trend and peter down to nothing, but then Dark and Light seriously upped the ante. Just to show that there can be way too much of a good thing, Dark and Light had a massive 26,000 square kilometer world. More reasonably, Thestra, Vanguard's largest of three continents is estimated to be about 288 square kilometers, so Vanguard's entire area probably covers a little more than 600 sq. kilometers. These figures were taken Tobold's and James Wallis's blogs and some archived forum posts and interviews; I don't pretend these are official numbers - except for DnL, which made world size it's (only?) promotional bullet point, but they feel about right.
Granted, much of this area is unplayable and even more is wasted space for achievers and explorers alike, leading some to prefer number of quests to acreage. World of Warcraft had about 3,200 quests at launch to cover an area the size of the New York City metro area at launch. On the other end of the scale, Dark and Light had 500 quests to cover a land mass the size of New Jersey and Delaware put together.
Size especially proves itself to be relative when you consider travel speed. The EVE Universe is thought to be about 121 light years across (1.14 x 10E15 km), but since stargates push you across undefined amounts of space instantaneously and all ships move at warp speed (and some ships can push 15 km / sec sub-warp), the EVE universe feels plenty big without daunting the casual player.
But as big as EVE is, there's seldom a reason to go ranging across the known universe solo, and ome of us like to feel the call of the great unknown. There was a day, before elaborate quest databases, leveling guides, or even in-game maps, when a game like EverQuest would reward you for exploring the world. Quests givers didn't necessarily come in bunches or have hovering exclamation points - you'd have to walk around and (horror of horrors) type out responses to NPC questions. Better yet, you'd stumble upon another player in need and join forces for a time. It was slow going, but you tended to feel a little more like an adventurer than a leveling / looting machine. I doubt we could ever go back to those days any more than we could give up our cell phones for land lines and pay phones, but I am anxious for a game that makes me feel a little more like a pilgrim in a new land again. Star Trek Online promises endless exploration through procedurally generated systems and planets, so perhaps I won't have to wait long.
What do you think? Do today's MMOs satisfy your urge to explore, or would you rather keep your game world small, scripted, and well contained? Share your thoughts in the Loading... forum.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day
From our Articles, News & Events Discussion
Dragon Age Origins: PC Version Review
Medawky's
review of Dragon Age Origins (for PC) has stirred up quite a bit of
conversation on our forums. Since I seem to be one of the few gamers
not playing DAO, I'll have to rely on Medawky's and your insight as I
consider whether to pick up the game or not. Post your own review for
me and gamers like me who are debating whether to pony up the cash for
DAO (or whether to ask for it for Christmas). Share!
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Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"Thanks for the review. Well done.
As for those who are miffed by the DLC, you'd better get used to it. It's very obvious that this model is here to stay. Besides, once the old-school folks get over their annoyance with it and
start reaching acceptance level, most will realize it's a great way to
keep a game fresh with optional extra content."
- Lizante
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- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team