When it comes to Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG's) things have changed far from what humble beginnings they emerged from. From simple tools used to connect other players with similar interests to the redefinition of mass communication, MMORPGs have come to affect every aspect of our society. Once played strictly by gamers the narrow generations of 'young people' that defined the start of console gaming have slowly begun to affect the online variants. In short more than just kids are playing. Many young men and women growing into professional occupations are starting to show up more and more in gaming communities (particularly though not exclusively in the case of MMOs), and as the second generation of online gaming comes to a close and waves in the third with games such as Age of Conan, fans are pushing for a much more responsive (and responsible) game developer than ever before.
Players are starting to understand exactly what they should expect from developing companies, and one particular developer might be failing to meet expectations before the game is even released. EA Mythic (developer of Dark Age of Camelot and the upcoming Warhammer: Age of Reckoning) released an interview with their own Vice President Mark Jacobs to overview the upcoming changes being made to their online world. A smaller developer than most others are used to dealing with, it was this company that GamesWorkshop decided to entrust with the creation of an online variant using arguably the most popular tabletop game in the world: Warhammer. Their notoriety for stability as well as fantastic customer support and receptive player feedback had no doubt played in their favor.
And so it was a little surprising when EA Mythic announced that they would be undoing a change meant to reflect their convergence into EA by reclaiming Mythic Entertainment as their development name. “I think that this is a wonderful example of how things at EA are changing,” Jacobs stated in his interview explaining that part of this name change shows off that developers can be part of a union but still keep their individuality and freedoms. Coupled with the fact Jacobs had initially stated in 2006 that EA would not interfere with the future of Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, many reservations about the two joining were pushed aside, instead celebrating what seemed to be Mythic Entertainment’s chance to really shine out with a larger budget.
Two companies merging is generally a sign of additional services to come for consumers. For example, in the case of AOL and Time Warner the idea is that more media capabilities would attract more customers and secure a larger Internet base. However in the case of game developers a convergence has a different meaning, implying that a larger developer will offer a smaller team more funding in hopes that both parties will be able to make more money. The parent company then makes the choice to let the absorbed developer continue to run their own show or to intervene and change things for what they feel is better. The latter is sadly more often the case and for a lot of games it shows. Both Everquest 2 and Vanguard both had their gameplay radically changed by Sony, Vanguard now suffering from an extreme loss of players to the point where shutting down their servers could become reality. However the motivation for EA's new policy remained unclear for the next twenty-four hours as fans were left wondering why such a clear show of faith to let Mythic keep their independent name would be brought up in such an exclusive interview.
It wasn't until the second part of their interview was released that the real concerns were addressed by Mythic, the addition of Punkbuster (an online anti-cheat program) as well as the temporary removal of four major world cities and the additional removal of four classes for an undetermined (possibly permanent) amount of time. “We wanted to make our Capital Cities the best cities in any MMO. We think we’re doing that, but it came at a price and that price is that the other cities aren’t going in the game right now," Jacob states. However many players are having an issue with the rapid change of a product many have already paid for.
The idea of preordering isn't new to the gaming community, but exactly what defines the 'terms' of a preorder is something that gamers are having a hard time defining. Many customers are misunderstanding that what they're buying is in fact the final product of developers, something that's subject to change in the alpha and beta periods of game testing. Even still, that has not stopped the gaming community from raising a lot of questions on the subject despite assurances from Mythic that all is for the best. Arguing that taking the time to ensure that their game is running with the highest amount of quality achievable to say whether or not the temporary removal of content will really bring a significant change to a game is difficult to say. Due to the limited amount of players allowed to test the game at any point in time all fans have to go on for now is the word of the developers, as the real stress test won't occur until the games release.
For now much is speculation as details of their two remaining cities as well as Realm vs Realm (RvR) content remains to be mostly undisclosed, but that has yet to stop Mythic from releasing more news explaining both their decision as well as future updates to the gameplay. In fact four more interviews have been released within three days of their content changing announcement further explaining the changes and why they are beneficial to their community, a good sign for a company that many are saying have lost control of their initial product. However if there was to be any indicator that things were going smoothly, the amount of fans still eagerly awaiting the release of the game is the greatest proof of all. "I don't understand the decision on the classes, a lot of them were very popular and sounded great, but I trust Mythic to make the right decisions in their development cycle. They've given me no reason not to, since, you know, I haven't played the game yet,” states one game enthusiast, and his feelings are certainly shared amongst a very large and growing new community of sophisticated gamers.
Players are starting to understand exactly what they should expect from developing companies, and one particular developer might be failing to meet expectations before the game is even released. EA Mythic (developer of Dark Age of Camelot and the upcoming Warhammer: Age of Reckoning) released an interview with their own Vice President Mark Jacobs to overview the upcoming changes being made to their online world. A smaller developer than most others are used to dealing with, it was this company that GamesWorkshop decided to entrust with the creation of an online variant using arguably the most popular tabletop game in the world: Warhammer. Their notoriety for stability as well as fantastic customer support and receptive player feedback had no doubt played in their favor.
And so it was a little surprising when EA Mythic announced that they would be undoing a change meant to reflect their convergence into EA by reclaiming Mythic Entertainment as their development name. “I think that this is a wonderful example of how things at EA are changing,” Jacobs stated in his interview explaining that part of this name change shows off that developers can be part of a union but still keep their individuality and freedoms. Coupled with the fact Jacobs had initially stated in 2006 that EA would not interfere with the future of Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, many reservations about the two joining were pushed aside, instead celebrating what seemed to be Mythic Entertainment’s chance to really shine out with a larger budget.
Two companies merging is generally a sign of additional services to come for consumers. For example, in the case of AOL and Time Warner the idea is that more media capabilities would attract more customers and secure a larger Internet base. However in the case of game developers a convergence has a different meaning, implying that a larger developer will offer a smaller team more funding in hopes that both parties will be able to make more money. The parent company then makes the choice to let the absorbed developer continue to run their own show or to intervene and change things for what they feel is better. The latter is sadly more often the case and for a lot of games it shows. Both Everquest 2 and Vanguard both had their gameplay radically changed by Sony, Vanguard now suffering from an extreme loss of players to the point where shutting down their servers could become reality. However the motivation for EA's new policy remained unclear for the next twenty-four hours as fans were left wondering why such a clear show of faith to let Mythic keep their independent name would be brought up in such an exclusive interview.
It wasn't until the second part of their interview was released that the real concerns were addressed by Mythic, the addition of Punkbuster (an online anti-cheat program) as well as the temporary removal of four major world cities and the additional removal of four classes for an undetermined (possibly permanent) amount of time. “We wanted to make our Capital Cities the best cities in any MMO. We think we’re doing that, but it came at a price and that price is that the other cities aren’t going in the game right now," Jacob states. However many players are having an issue with the rapid change of a product many have already paid for.
The idea of preordering isn't new to the gaming community, but exactly what defines the 'terms' of a preorder is something that gamers are having a hard time defining. Many customers are misunderstanding that what they're buying is in fact the final product of developers, something that's subject to change in the alpha and beta periods of game testing. Even still, that has not stopped the gaming community from raising a lot of questions on the subject despite assurances from Mythic that all is for the best. Arguing that taking the time to ensure that their game is running with the highest amount of quality achievable to say whether or not the temporary removal of content will really bring a significant change to a game is difficult to say. Due to the limited amount of players allowed to test the game at any point in time all fans have to go on for now is the word of the developers, as the real stress test won't occur until the games release.
For now much is speculation as details of their two remaining cities as well as Realm vs Realm (RvR) content remains to be mostly undisclosed, but that has yet to stop Mythic from releasing more news explaining both their decision as well as future updates to the gameplay. In fact four more interviews have been released within three days of their content changing announcement further explaining the changes and why they are beneficial to their community, a good sign for a company that many are saying have lost control of their initial product. However if there was to be any indicator that things were going smoothly, the amount of fans still eagerly awaiting the release of the game is the greatest proof of all. "I don't understand the decision on the classes, a lot of them were very popular and sounded great, but I trust Mythic to make the right decisions in their development cycle. They've given me no reason not to, since, you know, I haven't played the game yet,” states one game enthusiast, and his feelings are certainly shared amongst a very large and growing new community of sophisticated gamers.
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