Friday, January 15, 2010

RTFFAQ

In this latest episode of Keenwatch, Keen is disappointed because Global Agenda is not a traditional MMO with large, open-world areas. Allow me to quote directly from the Global Agenda FAQ:

"Elements of a typical MMO that are NOT in Global Agenda:

a large, seamless world to explore
quest givers
open world PvP or PvE
elves
If you consider any of these items to be must-haves within your MMO, we may not be the game for you."

"Overall, we consider the game to be an Action-based Shooter MMO. The game offers the fluid gameplay mechanics of a multi-player shooter, with elements of character progression, territory control and economy drawn from the MMO genre. The gameplay includes both player-vs-evironment and player-vs-player content, but all of it is fast-paced and highly engaging and designed to get you into the action quickly"

And this, from "The Game" linked to on the main page of the Global Agenda website:

"Co-Op with friends online - Four players share the same online mission experience - working as a team,communicating via built-in text and voice chat, infiltrating facilities, defeating end bosses, and earning technology upgrades.

Compete in fast-paced, multiplayer matches - Teamwork and tactics are paramount within objective-based game types designed from the ground up to support intense and balanced player vs. player combat."

What part of the description of this game implies your generic, open-world MMO? Gee, if I didn't know better I'd say that Keen tries to shoehorn every single game he plays into some UO/Darkfall/WoW extravaganza of failure.

Oh, also, he seems to be QQing about instancing a lot lately. If you want your generic mash-all-buttons-in-boring-non-interactive-carebear combat, by all means play a game in which every single person that is playing can all be crammed into one giant area.

If you want a game that the client and server can actually handle and possibly at the same time depict some semi-fun semblance of gameplay, you need instancing, because the technology just can't handle it otherwise.

8 comments:

Zoso said...

Don't forget that instancing is rubbish and the world must be seamless, but if more than five players are in PvP then it's a zerg, which is rubbish.

Mind you, I bought a pair of shoes the other day and I was furious, they tasted terrible when I spread marmalade on them. I really wanted a loaf of bread, but I'm a busy man, I can hardly be expected to pay attention to what I'm buying...

Anonymous said...

I can always count on you guys to crack me up!

Anonymous said...

I guess it is too few new MMO releases to have an opinion about, so have to include games that a text search on their web site might match "MMO" in some way.

Elementalistly said...

Next on Keenwatch!!!!

Pamela Anderson says "Keen" not an MMO player. Pamela then asks David Hasselhoff "What is an MMO?"

News at 11

Really, what is this guy doing. He is all over the map with his all important discussions on games like he is the master of MMO. This, the same guy who called Warhammer Online and Darkfall a success on launch, then had to renege on those statements..

lol

Poor Keen

Tesh said...

That's a great article from Shamus, by the way. Thanks for reminding me of it. *Bookmarks*

Adam said...

the technology CAN handle it, provided you aren't attempting to pack EVERYONE onto one server. darkfall does it. what's the big problem with multiple servers? heavy instancing is awful any way you slice it.

Andrew said...

@Adam:

"heavy instancing is awful any way you slice it."

Why? I just don't see this as a truism like you frame it.

Jayedub said...

Keenwatch, that's awesome.