I've been too spoiled by real 3d graphics to enjoy a Facebook MMOs. They all have this weird camera angle going on, and it bothers me. They fix it up so I can't tell the difference between a browser game and a regular MMO, and maybe I'll consider caring. Until then, meh.
I'm pretty sure that's the idea.
I believe in what he's going after. I'm just affraid that he'll do something harmfull to the game in an attempt to chase something deemed "of the times". The idea of players playing for free if they get other players to play, that's one of those things that can go either way depending on how it's done. So that has my caution flag up a little. And I hope cash shops are either not included, or done strictly for real life collectibles like maps, medallions (real medallions, not in-game items), mugs, etc.
I think we'll have to wait to see exactly what he has in mind before we can decide for ourselves what's what.
Lord British always has been a man of visions, and often his visions came true and greatly advanced the genre. But even a great visionary can be sometimes wrong. I think it is good and right than some people invest their time and money to try out new things, to venture into new avenues. Like many, I too am sceptical whether or not such a "new social" game can function, or even appeal to my personal game preferrences, a vast, open, persistend MMO-like world. But in one aspect he is on spot: we have in our combat-centric MMOs lost the social aspect. It remains one of the ironies of our world, that in our stuggle to become more autonomous we only became more isolated. But I wish Lord British the best! Even if not all wishes and dreams come true, the game scene needs visionairies and visions, people who still experiment with new games and new ideas!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
But Garott is not behind times. If anything he has always proven to be better game designer than any other. And perhaps a bit ahead of times in most cases
for online games he really only has Ultima Online to his credit -- and thats really all he needs
UO also had other designer heavyweights that helped create it
Yes and Ralph Koster is also looking at gaming within Facebook.
I am not sure where they are going with it. From one hand it sounds to me that they just want to make some profit by utilizing an existing untapped audiance.
On the other hand they seem to want to introduce many people to Online gaming by using the "Social Networks" as an introduction medium.
Truth is that there re many people in Facebook (the majority) that are not gamers.
But for established gamers, facebook is really not the place to play games, at least this is how I feel about it and the people I spoken about it too. Something like Farmville realy does not appeal to me but I seen many non gamers play it.
Facebook is many things to many different people, to me it is a way to stay in contact with friends, it is a tool to Socialise yes, but the Socialising is done outside of Facebook, Facebook is just the means to set up the appointment the event, meeting etc etc etc.
Bottom line is that I certainly do not open my Facebook to play games in it.
- Duke Suraknar - Order of the Silver Star, OSS
ESKA, Playing MMORPG's since Ultima Online 1997 - Order of the Silver Serpent, Atlantic Shard
Ralph Koster was the real genious behind both Ultima and SWG. Without him I doubt that Garriot can pull it off. Garriot has great ideas, but he needs someone that has the imagination to implement them. Hence don't get your hopes up.
I have fb account for communication with some friends that had spread out to diffrent cities and countries around the globe, but I log like once per week and I avoid doing it more often and I despise all kind of facebook games(I tried a few and founf them to be awful,time-wasters all with awful facebook interface sauce blegh).
I love how quickly everyone says "Facebook games suck!" and Richard Garriott is a failure because Tabula Rasa tanked. This man made his first commerical game at 18 years old, created the first truly commercially successful MMO, has been to space and has a robot that monitors his employees at Portalarium. He's beyond successful. What the fuck did you did at 18? Posted some crap about how much the father of modern MMORPGs sucks now? Real productive there.
First off, Tabula Rasa was not Garriotts fault. His original design looked amazing and was much more akin to UO than what released. NCsoft forced major changes upon him and he had to comply to get funding. He regrets Tabula Rasa because it could have been a fantastic game had the original design been approved.
Also, FB games may suck now (opinions!), but go ahead and google Unreal 3 and Flash 11. Unreal 3 can now natively re-compile it's engine to Flash and it's nigh on impossible to tell the difference unless you know what you're looking for.
Browser games are big now and they're only going to get bigger. Stop clinging to the past... the future of gaming is brighter than you think. Browser games can be a lot closer to core games than they currently are given the proper development path. I truly believe Richard Garriott is the right man for the job. Have ye a little faith.
There are currently a number of problems with flash in a browser. Here are a couple of the top of my head
1. server/client security issues
2. Flash is quirky and has bugs. Things don't always flow as you expect them to
3. Have to download everytime you open the app. (I mean think about this with something the size of SWTOR)
4. Database communication security issues
Maybe with cloud computing at somepoint in the far future with video streaming but I think it is a long way of . For this solution you have just got to imagine the bandwidth and processing power of the servers it would take to run something like wow
In fact best way to do this IMO would be to build your own browser with most of the graphics and stuff already there local for people to use. You could then download everything at once at install this new browser or maybe buy it from a shop on a disk. You have to remember many people have limited bandwidth and not everyones connections are super fast.. Then people could use this new client and save a lot of bandwidth and loading time... oh wait..
If he decided to make an non Facebooklol, non browser, updated UO then i'm all for it. But as is, no thanks Richard.
No doubt it is the future and where the money is. But then so is that horrifc crap you hear on the X Factor and in the charts all the time. I have no interest in that shit, nor in Facebook games, the mmo equivalent.
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
pretty sure its not actually inside the browser, i've seen him mention that portalarium is going to be a launcher from the browser that launches regular pc games, similar to how most Korean mmos are. Its possible it will require a facebook account to launch though and may be linked in some way with the account. However, I do believe this game is actually a sequel to UO and will not be browser based.
I love how quickly everyone says "Facebook games suck!" and Richard Garriott is a failure because Tabula Rasa tanked. This man made his first commerical game at 18 years old, created the first truly commercially successful MMO, has been to space and has a robot that monitors his employees at Portalarium. He's beyond successful. What the fuck did you did at 18? Posted some crap about how much the father of modern MMORPGs sucks now? Real productive there.
First off, Tabula Rasa was not Garriotts fault. His original design looked amazing and was much more akin to UO than what released. NCsoft forced major changes upon him and he had to comply to get funding. He regrets Tabula Rasa because it could have been a fantastic game had the original design been approved.
Also, FB games may suck now (opinions!), but go ahead and google Unreal 3 and Flash 11. Unreal 3 can now natively re-compile it's engine to Flash and it's nigh on impossible to tell the difference unless you know what you're looking for.
Browser games are big now and they're only going to get bigger. Stop clinging to the past... the future of gaming is brighter than you think. Browser games can be a lot closer to core games than they currently are given the proper development path. I truly believe Richard Garriott is the right man for the job. Have ye a little faith.
Yeah, I agree with you. Not many gamers know that Garriott had some other guy forced on him to "co-create" Tabula Rasa, and changed the game from original design.
I said it earlier in this thread, I believe in this. I just hope Garriott can resist all efforts by financiers to once again change his ideas to suit the lowest common denominator. The current situation of declining MMOs due to this should give him some amunition.
This is excellent news. Actually, up until yesterday I was doubting browser games. Until I saw the Mystical World game that he assisted working on. The engine he used is pretty cool, it's a legit 3d MMO in a browser. Maybe a little silly for some, but me and my fiancee are enjoying playing it through facebook and it's not half bad! A more serious UO tone to this would be incredible. I do think, however, it should be Facebook or Non-facebook compatible. Just in case for some crazy reason facebook has issues in the future or becomes less popular one day. Whereas browsers probably aren't going anywhere.
Disclaimer: This is not a troll post and is not here to promote any negative energy. Although this may be a criticism, it is not meant to offend anyone. If a moderator feels the post is inappropriate, please remove it immediately before it is subject to consideration for a warning. Thank you.
This is excellent news. Actually, up until yesterday I was doubting browser games. Until I saw the Mystical World game that he assisted working on. The engine he used is pretty cool, it's a legit 3d MMO in a browser. Maybe a little silly for some, but me and my fiancee are enjoying playing it through facebook and it's not half bad! A more serious UO tone to this would be incredible. I do think, however, it should be Facebook or Non-facebook compatible. Just in case for some crazy reason facebook has issues in the future or becomes less popular one day. Whereas browsers probably aren't going anywhere.
Does FaceBook run servers for any of these games? I don't know, but I had the idea that all of them would be capable to run on their own, or through any other portal (like FaceBook) if not for contractual obligations. But I don't expect Garriott or any other major effort to pay the kind of money FaceBook takes now, nor to tie themeslves up like that, to that extent.
This is excellent news. Actually, up until yesterday I was doubting browser games. Until I saw the Mystical World game that he assisted working on. The engine he used is pretty cool, it's a legit 3d MMO in a browser. Maybe a little silly for some, but me and my fiancee are enjoying playing it through facebook and it's not half bad! A more serious UO tone to this would be incredible. I do think, however, it should be Facebook or Non-facebook compatible. Just in case for some crazy reason facebook has issues in the future or becomes less popular one day. Whereas browsers probably aren't going anywhere.
Does FaceBook run servers for any of these games? I don't know, but I had the idea that all of them would be capable to run on their own, or through any other portal (like FaceBook) if not for contractual obligations. But I don't expect Garriott or any other major effort to pay the kind of money FaceBook takes now, nor to tie themeslves up like that, to that extent.
No, I'm pretty sure the servers are hosted outside of facebook. Actually the MMO that exists now (Mystical World) can be played without facebook. The only thing you need is a browser plugin to be installed. The only interaction with facebook, to my knowledge, is talking back to the API once you are logged in for basic information and allow you to share accomplishments (like achievements of leveling). The API itself is free to use.
Disclaimer: This is not a troll post and is not here to promote any negative energy. Although this may be a criticism, it is not meant to offend anyone. If a moderator feels the post is inappropriate, please remove it immediately before it is subject to consideration for a warning. Thank you.
- Super slow skill gains, so slow there are only a handful of people on the server with high skills
- Random skill gains, you never know when you will gain
- Rare items are actually rare
- Open PvP with full looting
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
Same here, but obviously game designers are looking at such trends for eg "PopCap Games Reports Rise in Online Social Games" :
The number of people playing social games has increased 71 percent from 2010, according to the report. It was also revealed that 31 million people had spent money to purchase in-game currency, an increase of 86 percent over last year, as reported by The Guardian.
Tb blunt, both initially sound cr@p given the initial info and seeming attempt to follow the cash? Maybe these luminaries are onto something I'm failing to see.
I love how quickly everyone says "Facebook games suck!" and Richard Garriott is a failure because Tabula Rasa tanked. This man made his first commerical game at 18 years old, created the first truly commercially successful MMO, has been to space and has a robot that monitors his employees at Portalarium. He's beyond successful. What the fuck did you did at 18? Posted some crap about how much the father of modern MMORPGs sucks now? Real productive there.
First off, Tabula Rasa was not Garriotts fault. His original design looked amazing and was much more akin to UO than what released. NCsoft forced major changes upon him and he had to comply to get funding. He regrets Tabula Rasa because it could have been a fantastic game had the original design been approved.
Also, FB games may suck now (opinions!), but go ahead and google Unreal 3 and Flash 11. Unreal 3 can now natively re-compile it's engine to Flash and it's nigh on impossible to tell the difference unless you know what you're looking for.
Browser games are big now and they're only going to get bigger. Stop clinging to the past... the future of gaming is brighter than you think. Browser games can be a lot closer to core games than they currently are given the proper development path. I truly believe Richard Garriott is the right man for the job. Have ye a little faith.
Yeah, I agree with you. Not many gamers know that Garriott had some other guy forced on him to "co-create" Tabula Rasa, and changed the game from original design.
I said it earlier in this thread, I believe in this. I just hope Garriott can resist all efforts by financiers to once again change his ideas to suit the lowest common denominator. The current situation of declining MMOs due to this should give him some amunition.
Oh yeah, Garriott was replaced by several managers, iirc, and the game was altered seriously from the original ideas. Of course, it was taken from Garriott because he had spent a lot of time and money and hadn't managed something close to playable as well. He doesn't get things out on time or under budget. Still, if he self-finances, he can do it at whatever speed he wants. Everone I know who worked on MMOs spits on the ground when the words investors and venture capitol get mentioned.
No telling if Garriott can re-invent himself. It's been quite a while since he helmed a real decent game. UO or Ultima 7 maybe?
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
I think Facebook games suck. Definitely. However, Richard Garriot has and ,I believe, is still capable of making awesome games. I really hope he makes an awesome Facebook game but if it ends up one of the many that have....play 10 minutes then pay cash or wait for the opportunity to play again... type of gameplay..then forget about it. Hopefully he makes a decent expansive browser game over the Facebook game. Sure it can incorporate facebook like just about everything else these days,,just as long as I don't have to log in to Facebook to play the game and have an option to play without facebook even attached. Who knows.
I have been giving this some additional thought. In spite of my previous replies here not being particularly excited about the fact that this will be a Facebook game...
If it actually uses a new engine that emulates the environment in such ways as it is possible for a standard game this could actually bring in to the genre many other people and that could herald a new era for the genre.
Immagine having 30-50 more million people being added to the MMORPG pool of players who's first MMO was Ultima Online!
Wouldn't that cause new MMORPG's to take that under account and be designed allongthe same lines for a peice of the action too? This could be the event that changes the direction of the genre, assuming of cource LB (Richard), holds on to the tenants and pillars that made Ultima Online a revered MMORPG by those that played it 14 years ago to this day.
It does not have to be as ruthless in some of its gameplay features as UO was of cource, yet, as long as it is not a mind numbing Themepark based only on Progression...this can actually be an overall great thing!
I would sure like to see some of my facebook friends get in to Online gaming heheh.
- Duke Suraknar - Order of the Silver Star, OSS
ESKA, Playing MMORPG's since Ultima Online 1997 - Order of the Silver Serpent, Atlantic Shard
I have been giving this some additional thought. In spite of my previous replies here not being particularly excited about the fact that this will be a Facebook game...
If it actually uses a new engine that emulates the environment in such ways as it is possible for a standard game this could actually bring in to the genre many other people and that could herald a new era for the genre.
Immagine having 30-50 more million people being added to the MMORPG pool of players who's first MMO was Ultima Online!
Wouldn't that cause new MMORPG's to take that under account and be designed allongthe same lines for a peice of the action too? This could be the event that changes the direction of the genre, assuming of cource LB (Richard), holds on to the tenants and pillars that made Ultima Online a revered MMORPG by those that played it 14 years ago to this day.
It does not have to be as ruthless in some of its gameplay features as UO was of cource, yet, as long as it is not a mind numbing Themepark based only on Progression...this can actually be an overall great thing!
I would sure like to see some of my facebook friends get in to Online gaming heheh.
I agree with you. I just have my doubts as to the capability of creating an 'ultimate' MMORPG on FB. In this case its a clear 'show me'
I have been giving this some additional thought. In spite of my previous replies here not being particularly excited about the fact that this will be a Facebook game...
If it actually uses a new engine that emulates the environment in such ways as it is possible for a standard game this could actually bring in to the genre many other people and that could herald a new era for the genre.
Immagine having 30-50 more million people being added to the MMORPG pool of players who's first MMO was Ultima Online!
Wouldn't that cause new MMORPG's to take that under account and be designed allongthe same lines for a peice of the action too? This could be the event that changes the direction of the genre, assuming of cource LB (Richard), holds on to the tenants and pillars that made Ultima Online a revered MMORPG by those that played it 14 years ago to this day.
It does not have to be as ruthless in some of its gameplay features as UO was of cource, yet, as long as it is not a mind numbing Themepark based only on Progression...this can actually be an overall great thing!
I would sure like to see some of my facebook friends get in to Online gaming heheh.
People need to forget the Facebook part here. This is Browser stuff, and Facebook is only the current portal that everyone's talking about.
If Facebook has the market strength to force contracts with any of these newer and better Browser games made to play like what we want, I'm absolutely certain that the companies involved will include "buy out" clauses in case Facebook takes a dive or they otherwise want out of said contracts. So, forget Facebook in this, and think about the availability of easy access to anyone.
This won't just help for a Sandbox game. Everything will benefit. All sorts of games, RMT products, Themeparks, kiddie games, educational games (for home and schools)...everything.
Think about it this way. There won't be "niches" anymore, because anything that's made well will have a huge market to compete in. No longer will there be a "flavor of the day" (Themeparks). Even small ideas will be able to make money, as long as they provide quality. Competition rules, not corporations.
Comments
I heard about this.
but I am affraid it is aimed at Facebook....I do not play games in a Dating Tool.
Order of the Silver Star, OSS
ESKA, Playing MMORPG's since Ultima Online 1997 - Order of the Silver Serpent, Atlantic Shard
I'm pretty sure that's the idea.
I believe in what he's going after. I'm just affraid that he'll do something harmfull to the game in an attempt to chase something deemed "of the times". The idea of players playing for free if they get other players to play, that's one of those things that can go either way depending on how it's done. So that has my caution flag up a little. And I hope cash shops are either not included, or done strictly for real life collectibles like maps, medallions (real medallions, not in-game items), mugs, etc.
I think we'll have to wait to see exactly what he has in mind before we can decide for ourselves what's what.
Once upon a time....
Lord British always has been a man of visions, and often his visions came true and greatly advanced the genre. But even a great visionary can be sometimes wrong. I think it is good and right than some people invest their time and money to try out new things, to venture into new avenues. Like many, I too am sceptical whether or not such a "new social" game can function, or even appeal to my personal game preferrences, a vast, open, persistend MMO-like world. But in one aspect he is on spot: we have in our combat-centric MMOs lost the social aspect. It remains one of the ironies of our world, that in our stuggle to become more autonomous we only became more isolated. But I wish Lord British the best! Even if not all wishes and dreams come true, the game scene needs visionairies and visions, people who still experiment with new games and new ideas!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Lol, I'd NEVER play a game that was on Faecesbook(tm)
for online games he really only has Ultima Online to his credit -- and thats really all he needs
UO also had other designer heavyweights that helped create it
like Ralph Koster , the lead designer for UO
EQ2 fan sites
Yes and Ralph Koster is also looking at gaming within Facebook.
I am not sure where they are going with it. From one hand it sounds to me that they just want to make some profit by utilizing an existing untapped audiance.
On the other hand they seem to want to introduce many people to Online gaming by using the "Social Networks" as an introduction medium.
Truth is that there re many people in Facebook (the majority) that are not gamers.
But for established gamers, facebook is really not the place to play games, at least this is how I feel about it and the people I spoken about it too. Something like Farmville realy does not appeal to me but I seen many non gamers play it.
Facebook is many things to many different people, to me it is a way to stay in contact with friends, it is a tool to Socialise yes, but the Socialising is done outside of Facebook, Facebook is just the means to set up the appointment the event, meeting etc etc etc.
Bottom line is that I certainly do not open my Facebook to play games in it.
Order of the Silver Star, OSS
ESKA, Playing MMORPG's since Ultima Online 1997 - Order of the Silver Serpent, Atlantic Shard
Ralph Koster was the real genious behind both Ultima and SWG. Without him I doubt that Garriot can pull it off. Garriot has great ideas, but he needs someone that has the imagination to implement them. Hence don't get your hopes up.
Two words: Tabula Rasa.
Great ideas, poor execution, vapid fanboi community and 30 million bucks later....
No thanks to anything Garriot does in future.
Current Games: WOW, EVE Online
UO successor? WoW, nice!
after I while I saw
Facebook game?
Not interested, even for UO successor.
I have fb account for communication with some friends that had spread out to diffrent cities and countries around the globe, but I log like once per week and I avoid doing it more often and I despise all kind of facebook games(I tried a few and founf them to be awful,time-wasters all with awful facebook interface sauce blegh).
I love how quickly everyone says "Facebook games suck!" and Richard Garriott is a failure because Tabula Rasa tanked. This man made his first commerical game at 18 years old, created the first truly commercially successful MMO, has been to space and has a robot that monitors his employees at Portalarium. He's beyond successful. What the fuck did you did at 18? Posted some crap about how much the father of modern MMORPGs sucks now? Real productive there.
First off, Tabula Rasa was not Garriotts fault. His original design looked amazing and was much more akin to UO than what released. NCsoft forced major changes upon him and he had to comply to get funding. He regrets Tabula Rasa because it could have been a fantastic game had the original design been approved.
Also, FB games may suck now (opinions!), but go ahead and google Unreal 3 and Flash 11. Unreal 3 can now natively re-compile it's engine to Flash and it's nigh on impossible to tell the difference unless you know what you're looking for.
Browser games are big now and they're only going to get bigger. Stop clinging to the past... the future of gaming is brighter than you think. Browser games can be a lot closer to core games than they currently are given the proper development path. I truly believe Richard Garriott is the right man for the job. Have ye a little faith.
There are currently a number of problems with flash in a browser. Here are a couple of the top of my head
1. server/client security issues
2. Flash is quirky and has bugs. Things don't always flow as you expect them to
3. Have to download everytime you open the app. (I mean think about this with something the size of SWTOR)
4. Database communication security issues
Maybe with cloud computing at somepoint in the far future with video streaming but I think it is a long way of . For this solution you have just got to imagine the bandwidth and processing power of the servers it would take to run something like wow
In fact best way to do this IMO would be to build your own browser with most of the graphics and stuff already there local for people to use. You could then download everything at once at install this new browser or maybe buy it from a shop on a disk. You have to remember many people have limited bandwidth and not everyones connections are super fast.. Then people could use this new client and save a lot of bandwidth and loading time... oh wait..
If he decided to make an non Facebooklol, non browser, updated UO then i'm all for it. But as is, no thanks Richard.
No doubt it is the future and where the money is. But then so is that horrifc crap you hear on the X Factor and in the charts all the time. I have no interest in that shit, nor in Facebook games, the mmo equivalent.
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
pretty sure its not actually inside the browser, i've seen him mention that portalarium is going to be a launcher from the browser that launches regular pc games, similar to how most Korean mmos are. Its possible it will require a facebook account to launch though and may be linked in some way with the account. However, I do believe this game is actually a sequel to UO and will not be browser based.
Yeah, I agree with you. Not many gamers know that Garriott had some other guy forced on him to "co-create" Tabula Rasa, and changed the game from original design.
I said it earlier in this thread, I believe in this. I just hope Garriott can resist all efforts by financiers to once again change his ideas to suit the lowest common denominator. The current situation of declining MMOs due to this should give him some amunition.
Once upon a time....
This is excellent news. Actually, up until yesterday I was doubting browser games. Until I saw the Mystical World game that he assisted working on. The engine he used is pretty cool, it's a legit 3d MMO in a browser. Maybe a little silly for some, but me and my fiancee are enjoying playing it through facebook and it's not half bad! A more serious UO tone to this would be incredible. I do think, however, it should be Facebook or Non-facebook compatible. Just in case for some crazy reason facebook has issues in the future or becomes less popular one day. Whereas browsers probably aren't going anywhere.
Disclaimer: This is not a troll post and is not here to promote any negative energy. Although this may be a criticism, it is not meant to offend anyone. If a moderator feels the post is inappropriate, please remove it immediately before it is subject to consideration for a warning. Thank you.
Does FaceBook run servers for any of these games? I don't know, but I had the idea that all of them would be capable to run on their own, or through any other portal (like FaceBook) if not for contractual obligations. But I don't expect Garriott or any other major effort to pay the kind of money FaceBook takes now, nor to tie themeslves up like that, to that extent.
Once upon a time....
No, I'm pretty sure the servers are hosted outside of facebook. Actually the MMO that exists now (Mystical World) can be played without facebook. The only thing you need is a browser plugin to be installed. The only interaction with facebook, to my knowledge, is talking back to the API once you are logged in for basic information and allow you to share accomplishments (like achievements of leveling). The API itself is free to use.
Disclaimer: This is not a troll post and is not here to promote any negative energy. Although this may be a criticism, it is not meant to offend anyone. If a moderator feels the post is inappropriate, please remove it immediately before it is subject to consideration for a warning. Thank you.
I'd play it if
- Super slow skill gains, so slow there are only a handful of people on the server with high skills
- Random skill gains, you never know when you will gain
- Rare items are actually rare
- Open PvP with full looting
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
Not interested.
Same here, but obviously game designers are looking at such trends for eg "PopCap Games Reports Rise in Online Social Games" :
eg Will Wright Reveals 'Personal Gaming' Project Hivemind
Tb blunt, both initially sound cr@p given the initial info and seeming attempt to follow the cash? Maybe these luminaries are onto something I'm failing to see.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
Oh yeah, Garriott was replaced by several managers, iirc, and the game was altered seriously from the original ideas. Of course, it was taken from Garriott because he had spent a lot of time and money and hadn't managed something close to playable as well. He doesn't get things out on time or under budget. Still, if he self-finances, he can do it at whatever speed he wants. Everone I know who worked on MMOs spits on the ground when the words investors and venture capitol get mentioned.
No telling if Garriott can re-invent himself. It's been quite a while since he helmed a real decent game. UO or Ultima 7 maybe?
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
I think Facebook games suck. Definitely. However, Richard Garriot has and ,I believe, is still capable of making awesome games. I really hope he makes an awesome Facebook game but if it ends up one of the many that have....play 10 minutes then pay cash or wait for the opportunity to play again... type of gameplay..then forget about it. Hopefully he makes a decent expansive browser game over the Facebook game. Sure it can incorporate facebook like just about everything else these days,,just as long as I don't have to log in to Facebook to play the game and have an option to play without facebook even attached. Who knows.
I have been giving this some additional thought. In spite of my previous replies here not being particularly excited about the fact that this will be a Facebook game...
If it actually uses a new engine that emulates the environment in such ways as it is possible for a standard game this could actually bring in to the genre many other people and that could herald a new era for the genre.
Immagine having 30-50 more million people being added to the MMORPG pool of players who's first MMO was Ultima Online!
Wouldn't that cause new MMORPG's to take that under account and be designed allongthe same lines for a peice of the action too? This could be the event that changes the direction of the genre, assuming of cource LB (Richard), holds on to the tenants and pillars that made Ultima Online a revered MMORPG by those that played it 14 years ago to this day.
It does not have to be as ruthless in some of its gameplay features as UO was of cource, yet, as long as it is not a mind numbing Themepark based only on Progression...this can actually be an overall great thing!
I would sure like to see some of my facebook friends get in to Online gaming heheh.
Order of the Silver Star, OSS
ESKA, Playing MMORPG's since Ultima Online 1997 - Order of the Silver Serpent, Atlantic Shard
I agree with you. I just have my doubts as to the capability of creating an 'ultimate' MMORPG on FB. In this case its a clear 'show me'
I self identify as a monkey.
People need to forget the Facebook part here. This is Browser stuff, and Facebook is only the current portal that everyone's talking about.
If Facebook has the market strength to force contracts with any of these newer and better Browser games made to play like what we want, I'm absolutely certain that the companies involved will include "buy out" clauses in case Facebook takes a dive or they otherwise want out of said contracts. So, forget Facebook in this, and think about the availability of easy access to anyone.
This won't just help for a Sandbox game. Everything will benefit. All sorts of games, RMT products, Themeparks, kiddie games, educational games (for home and schools)...everything.
Think about it this way. There won't be "niches" anymore, because anything that's made well will have a huge market to compete in. No longer will there be a "flavor of the day" (Themeparks). Even small ideas will be able to make money, as long as they provide quality. Competition rules, not corporations.
Once upon a time....