Absolutely! Dragonrealms captured my heart when I started playing in 96, back when it was on AOL. I remember the "Great Migration" when DR left AOL to launch it's own server. Now I feel old....
Originally posted by Leiron Absolutely! Dragonrealms captured my heart when I started playing in 96, back when it was on AOL. I remember the "Great Migration" when DR left AOL to launch it's own server. Now I feel old....
You are not alone. I remember my first $600 aol bill. /faint
I was thinking about this just last night at how DR is almost 10 years old now. Things like my trailblazer badge are just as old.
It kind of freaks me out and makes me proud at the same time that I was even involved in making such a great game with other great people. Alot of which are still going strong.
Some days I miss it. But I know HJ will bring those exact same feelings to me in 10 years. So it works out.
Gemstone 3 was my first ever RPG experience. It iis GS that truely opened my mind to the "fantasy" genre and would inevitably lead to my addictions to, magic the gathering, Final fantasy, The Elderscrolls, Tolkien, and WoW. I remember when GS left AOL, it was one of the sadest days of my life. I was too young too work as well as to afford a monthly subscribtion fee, and it was 5 years before I was able to once again return to Elanthia.... a very long 5 years. I may not currently play GS but it will always be the bench mark too which I hold all MMO's, a bench mark that has yet to be reached.... so here is to hero's journey... may it finaly fill my void
Neclord--UO (deceased) Josco--SWG (deceased) Waiting for STO?
Well I never played Gemstone..ok I played it one day but it was an accident, lol.
I was stictly a Modus Operandi girl, even when it was on AOL. Ah...the good old days. I loved and still love Modus. In fact I think I'll play right now..oh wait I have HJ to work on. Hmmm wonder if I can do both at the same time...
First off congrats and good luck to Simu on their first venture into the MMORPG realm. I fondly remember playing GemStone on AOL. A lot of sleepless nights, eye-strain (B&W text interface FTW!) and fun! I don't miss the bills though! I enjoyed exploring Elanith until Shadowbane drew me away. I really do hope you guys have earned from the mistakes you made through all the variations of GS.
Simu erred on a number of things, but I will only list the glaring ones (to me at least):
- Two seperate kind servers. One for those who choose to spend more money ($35 for a Platinum account, if memory serves me right) and another for those who chose not to or were unable to pay more. This policy placed an artificial barrier within the community, Simu literaly seperated the haves and the have nots.
- Forcing players to play for in-game events (special merchants, enchanting, etc.). Yes there were free events for the general public, but the quality of items were not the same. One can easily see how this discrepancy between in-game events can create a severe in-game inbalance.
- The almost rampant and blatant favoritism certain GMs showed to select players. I will not go in to too much detail, some of the things that happened were just plain silly, but in some cases they were quite serious. Serious enough that it was almost impossible to hide certain player-GM cliques. I seriously hope the current crop of GMs are more professional.
- The wishy-washy stance on PvP. Either let the players police themselves or just make it illegal from the get-go. When I was playing, enforcement of the PvP rule depended on which GM got the complaint and the interpretation swung from one extreme to another.
For years Elanthia had no competition to speak of. The things I listed above slowly alienated and finally drove some away. I remember playing every night with at LEAST 2k other players and if my memory is accurate, it even got as high as 5k at one point. Yes, 5k on peak hours, not bad for a MUD. Then the numbers steadily declined, until the game was barely able to field 1k on peak hours.
If you learn from your past Simu, I see nothing but good things happening to this new venture. Who knows, do a good enough job and players like myself may even come back
First off congrats and good luck to Simu on their first venture into the MMORPG realm. I fondly remember playing GemStone on AOL. A lot of sleepless nights, eye-strain (B&W text interface FTW!) and fun! I don't miss the bills though! I enjoyed exploring Elanith until Shadowbane drew me away. I really do hope you guys have earned from the mistakes you made through all the variations of GS. Simu erred on a number of things, but I will only list the glaring ones (to me at least): - Two seperate kind servers. One for those who choose to spend more money ($35 for a Platinum account, if memory serves me right) and another for those who chose not to or were unable to pay more. This policy placed an artificial barrier within the community, Simu literaly seperated the haves and the have nots. - Forcing players to play for in-game events (special merchants, enchanting, etc.). Yes there were free events for the general public, but the quality of items were not the same. One can easily see how this discrepancy between in-game events can create a severe in-game inbalance. - The almost rampant and blatant favoritism certain GMs showed to select players. I will not go in to too much detail, some of the things that happened were just plain silly, but in some cases they were quite serious. Serious enough that it was almost impossible to hide certain player-GM cliques. I seriously hope the current crop of GMs are more professional. - The wishy-washy stance on PvP. Either let the players police themselves or just make it illegal from the get-go. When I was playing, enforcement of the PvP rule depended on which GM got the complaint and the interpretation swung from one extreme to another. For years Elanthia had no competition to speak of. The things I listed above slowly alienated and finally drove some away. I remember playing every night with at LEAST 2k other players and if my memory is accurate, it even got as high as 5k at one point. Yes, 5k on peak hours, not bad for a MUD. Then the numbers steadily declined, until the game was barely able to field 1k on peak hours. If you learn from your past Simu, I see nothing but good things happening to this new venture. Who knows, do a good enough job and players like myself may even come back
Simu has been in the MMORPG genre for over 15 years. GS, DR, AoH, Cyberstrike, and MO are by definition MMORPGs. This is simutronics first foray into the graphical MMORPG genre. Just a slight correction. We all know what was intended.
Comments
Absolutely! Dragonrealms captured my heart when I started playing in 96, back when it was on AOL.
I remember the "Great Migration" when DR left AOL to launch it's own server. Now I feel old....
You are not alone. I remember my first $600 aol bill. /faint
I was thinking about this just last night at how DR is almost 10 years old now. Things like my trailblazer badge are just as old.
It kind of freaks me out and makes me proud at the same time that I was even involved in making such a great game with other great people. Alot of which are still going strong.
Some days I miss it. But I know HJ will bring those exact same feelings to me in 10 years. So it works out.
HJ-Royce
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://www.play.net/hj/
Gemstone 3 was my first ever RPG experience. It iis GS that truely opened my mind to the "fantasy" genre and would inevitably lead to my addictions to, magic the gathering, Final fantasy, The Elderscrolls, Tolkien, and WoW. I remember when GS left AOL, it was one of the sadest days of my life. I was too young too work as well as to afford a monthly subscribtion fee, and it was 5 years before I was able to once again return to Elanthia.... a very long 5 years. I may not currently play GS but it will always be the bench mark too which I hold all MMO's, a bench mark that has yet to be reached.... so here is to hero's journey... may it finaly fill my void
Neclord--UO (deceased)
Josco--SWG (deceased)
Waiting for STO?
Well I never played Gemstone..ok I played it one day but it was an accident, lol.
I was stictly a Modus Operandi girl, even when it was on AOL. Ah...the good old days. I loved and still love Modus. In fact I think I'll play right now..oh wait I have HJ to work on. Hmmm wonder if I can do both at the same time...
Add Cinnamon and stir....
www.play.net/hj
First off congrats and good luck to Simu on their first venture into the MMORPG realm. I fondly remember playing GemStone on AOL. A lot of sleepless nights, eye-strain (B&W text interface FTW!) and fun! I don't miss the bills though! I enjoyed exploring Elanith until Shadowbane drew me away. I really do hope you guys have earned from the mistakes you made through all the variations of GS.
Simu erred on a number of things, but I will only list the glaring ones (to me at least):
- Two seperate kind servers. One for those who choose to spend more money ($35 for a Platinum account, if memory serves me right) and another for those who chose not to or were unable to pay more. This policy placed an artificial barrier within the community, Simu literaly seperated the haves and the have nots.
- Forcing players to play for in-game events (special merchants, enchanting, etc.). Yes there were free events for the general public, but the quality of items were not the same. One can easily see how this discrepancy between in-game events can create a severe in-game inbalance.
- The almost rampant and blatant favoritism certain GMs showed to select players. I will not go in to too much detail, some of the things that happened were just plain silly, but in some cases they were quite serious. Serious enough that it was almost impossible to hide certain player-GM cliques. I seriously hope the current crop of GMs are more professional.
- The wishy-washy stance on PvP. Either let the players police themselves or just make it illegal from the get-go. When I was playing, enforcement of the PvP rule depended on which GM got the complaint and the interpretation swung from one extreme to another.
For years Elanthia had no competition to speak of. The things I listed above slowly alienated and finally drove some away. I remember playing every night with at LEAST 2k other players and if my memory is accurate, it even got as high as 5k at one point. Yes, 5k on peak hours, not bad for a MUD. Then the numbers steadily declined, until the game was barely able to field 1k on peak hours.
If you learn from your past Simu, I see nothing but good things happening to this new venture. Who knows, do a good enough job and players like myself may even come back
~~ FGM Razu ~~
~Hero's Journey~