by Jeff Woleslagle on Jan 07, 2009
Welcome to the 989th Edition of Loading...
If you aren't reading this in your e-mail, you could be. Sign up! Are you looking for gaming news? Look no further for all of the headlines. General industry news and Ten Ton Hammer excusives are all yours as part of Ten Ton Hammer's RSS Feed . Enjoy!
The Pulse
First, you vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is Pulse?).
Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:
World of Warcraft Warhammer Online Age of Conan Lord of the Rings Online Atlantica OnlineBiggest Movers in the Top 20 today :
Dungeons & Dragons Online (down 9 to no. 16) Fiesta (UP 6 to no. 10) EverQuest 2 (down 6 to no. 14)Loading... Daily
Loading... MMO news and commentary without end.
Aside from being the Zen Buddhists of the Mediterranean, the Greco-Roman Stoics believed that world history was cyclical. After things played themselves out, the world would be reborn in an age of fire, a palengenesia, and history would start anew. This view was later picked up by philosopher Georg Hegel and in turn (very unfortunately) by Hitler. That's in case you were wondering why "holocaust" also means "complete burning" - Western history chose the Nazis' word rather than the Hebrew "haShoah" or Yiddish "Churben".
This probably sounds a lot like the Fallout storyline, since the spectre of nuclear weapons made this notion seem all the more possible. On that tip I'll shill a new set of Earthrise Old Town screens that should help sate your post-Project Purity hankerings.
Cold War memories aside, I'm bringing up palengenesia just to say that the notion of the world ending and starting anew is almost as old as human history, it's not a new notion and it seems burned into our genetic code whether you're a religious person or not. Why else could the thought of global warming, overpopulation, or CFCs burning a hole in the ozone layer excite such a primal horror or an unthinking skepticism in so many?
That being the case, it's interesting to me that MUDs and MMORPGs were the first form of entertainment designed without an end in mind. Epic stories, plays and operas, books, movies all have a resolution, even serial content like TV series typically have a written ending prepared long in advance. The classic examples of going out in style, even today, are M*A*S*H and the Mary Tyler Moore Show, which owes their immortality largely to the fact that each show ended and ended at the height of its popularity.
Devs treat MMORPGs the same way as (ethical) business professors teach their students to regard a start-up, as a "going concern", an establishment that lives and dies by its reputation - the opposite of a fly-by-night out to take the money and run. Obviously MMOs are a business too - those that betray the trust of their audience with magnanimous promises that never see the light of day are smeared across the Internet. Promises are different than expectations, and its a wise developer that manages both effectively, avoiding the temptation of building illegitimate hype.
At the end of February, we'll witness what may be the first planned ending to an MMORPG, as Tabula Rasa goes free-to-play and we're promised a succession of fun events that will perhaps draw the epic battle between the bane and humanity to a close in style. If the finale is at all accessible to lowbies, I'll be tuning in (I'd pay a reasonable price to bear witness and I know others would too, NCSoft take note!), and we'll have at least one seasoned TR writer on-hand.
I think what NCSoft is doing is extremely praiseworthy, and I'd like to know who was behind the decision so I could shake his or her hand. I can name a few MMOs that I'd like to see shut down in style - cementing themselves in my memory for what they were when talent and capital were still in play, not the low budget, low population heartaches that they've become. As was stated in yesterday's Loading..., the best developers often know when to quit (Starcraft Ghost, anyone?) and salvage the long-term riches a solid reputation brings over distended profits.
What do you think - use the Matt Groening Simpson model and continue until things become completely unprofitable, or stop while you're ahead? Out with it in the Loading... forum, or email me directly if you like.
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the DayNew MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]
Op/Eds
Warhammer Online: New Year's WAAAGH-solutions Finding the Right Free-to-Play MMOGInterviews
Cities XL: Monte Cristo CEO Jerome GastaldiCommunity
Geeked: "Competitive Strategies"Guides
World of Warcraft: Alliance Northrend Leveling Guide - Level 72, Part 1 Age of Conan: Gemcutter Recipes - Tier 3Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:
Warhammer Online: New Year's WAAAGH-solutions Finding the Right Free-to-Play MMOG Geeked: "Competitive Strategies" Loading... Live Podcast Episode 1 - Not Funny... Forever Chronicles of Spellborn: Combat Evolved Top 10 Free To Play Games - Investment Opportunities for Players Fasaria World Beta Giveaway The Learning Curve - How much is too much? Ralsu's 2008 Best of Free To Play Awards Geeked: "Another One Bites The Dust"Real World News
Man acquitted of killing robber with swordThanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!
-Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team