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The Seed Roleplaying Community » Posts by Tantavalist
And looking at this trend, it's probable that Age of Conan will need high specs too. And I was so looking forward to it, since what's been shown so far seems to indicate that they are indeed going for the feel of the original Robert E Howard books. I really am going to have to get my PC upgraded somehow.
Pirates of the Burning Sea has finally released the system requirements, and the minimums aren't excessive- anyone who was able to run Ryzom will be able to play Pirates as well.
It seems that, from what people are saying in the forums, the RP community in Saga of Ryzom is falling apart and URU Live is failing to produce the RP that we'd all hoped it would. It looks like it's time to start the discussion about what online games we can meet in once again.
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes seems, from what I read on the site and independent reviews, to be the perfect game for out needs apart from one thing. The minimum specs needed to run it are so high I can't try it out and see what it's like for myself, and I gather from what's been said that this may be the case for a lot of us.
Pirates of the Burning Sea and Age of Conan both have very good potential, but neither is out until later this year (June for Pirates, end of October for Conan).
City of Heroes/Villains is my own current online game. Whatever you may think of the comic-book setting, it has a VERY well-established RP community on the Union server. I've not had this much enjoyment in RPing since Seed, and anyone who tries the game out is welcome to get in touch with me so I can lead them to the RPers.
Er... It was the exact same skill system as Seed had. And you could just have done something else whilst waiting to train.
CCP has released an article in the E-ON magazine detailing how they are currently beginning work on creating a system where EVE's pod-pilots will finally be able to leave their capsules and walk around the stations they dock in using human avatars. As the bare-bones framework of this they are attempting to build a system with "Hyper-Realistic" human avatars, with a wide variety of expressions and gestures. People have been talking about adding this to EVE ever since the game first came out, but the company has now confirmed that it has staff working on it.
The project is obviously low-priority compared to other things in development, as well as being somewhat ambitious, so they estimate 12-18 months at minimum, making late 2008 the soonest it will arrive. But I'm sure anyone who has ever played EVE will be welcoming the prospect of this new addition, which from the RP point of view was all that was missing from EVE to make it the perfect RP setting IMO.
The head of the "Ambulation" prject has said in an interview that this feature will:-
...provide depth for the casual player and a playground for those who take roleplaying seriously. I come from a classic pen-and-paper role-playing background and feel that it's imperative that you have the option to perform actions and events that perhaps have no pragmatic economic value but enable people to emotion, power, tradition and history in the language of the EVE universe.
and has also given a few other comments like:-
We're quite authoritarian when it come to allowing EVE players to customise their characters to absurdity. There are virtual worlds out there that allow you to fit rubber ducks to your head and have hairy, bearded men in wedding gowns, but that does not fit at all with the backstory and setting of EVE and would do more damage than good in my humble opinion.
The general outline seems to be that they are going to set up an environment where human avatars can interact extensively and no combat is permitted and there is nothing of benefit to non-RPers to induce them to enter. If this project ever makes a full appearance in the EVE game, I know I'm going back to it and I also know I won't be alone. Just that pesky wait of probably two years now...
What the hell... I'm in if it goes ahead. Not busy most Fridays either.
Ah yes- the wonderful TM eyes-and-ears network. Amazing how impossible it was to keep thing from us when all it amounted to was people calling out on the Ring channel whenever they say or heard somthing potentially interesting. Given the sheer number of TM Seeds compared to the other Rings, and it becomes understandable how Arash or Mehken would magically appear at any significant event.
In this case it was me making a sweep through the floatbed chambers- as one of the top repair workers in the Tower and a trained medic, I liked to check for new Seeds every so often, and offer assistance and medical treatment to those who hadn't stumbled onto the garden (yet another TM recruiting strategy, which usually resulted in a new member or a friend in another Ring). I overheard another Seed talking to Mozungo- I forget who- and, picking up that he claimed to be an Old Seed, mentioned it on the Ring channel.
So was the overly-paranoid attitude towards TM IC or OOC? That's the one thing that comes up over and over again in every anti-TM argument ever made. "TM is run by fundamentalist dictators who are plotting to rule the whole Tower, everything they do must be seen as some sort of attack on the rest of the colonists." Yes, there were valid criticisms to be made concerning TM and its leadership, but they were blown well out of proportion by the anti-TM hysteria that half the Tower seemed to be spouting by the end. Even in the last post above, Kryigerof states that people were paranoid about TM stealing credit for their work. I'm genuinely curious about whether this was just RPing, or if players were truly convinced that TM was as bad as some would have had people believe.
Another suspicion confirmed... That Oluf's biggest problem with Arash and TM was that they had influence and he didn't. And I never said that the other Rings didn't have goals, just that TM was the only one doing anything concrete to work towards said goals.
Tantavalist had very little to do with the political side of things, just hearing from other Ring members and going to the bigger meetings, so my view of things is probably a little skewed. But the conflict between TM and KDS always seemed to be more about Egos than Idealology to me.
There's probably some subtle points I'm missing, since Tantavalist spent most of his time outside the floatbed wandering around doing repairs- I'm sure that there's a few TM members who wouldn't have known him as anything but a voice on the Ring channel, and as for other Rings, well... So all I saw of Oluf (and others) was this rather angry person who turned up to meetings to basically chant "TM bad! TM bad!" over and over and trying to win arguments simply by talking more than anyone else.
My suspicions are confirmed then.
They may have had the goal of opposing TM, but really, they were laughably bad at it because you just thought "I'll opposed TM" and did that. I think that a much more effective method of opposition would have been to simply join TM instead. I believe that Oluf himself once said that the difficult part about rallying support against TM was that very few Seeds opposed their core goals. When people said they didn't like how powerful TM was becoming, what they seemed to be saying was that they didn't like how powerful Arash was becoming.
A small Ring that just plotted against TM was never going to amount to much. Joining TM and working for The Mission but against Arash would have been far more likely to work, especially as most of the criticism in the interview notes above seems based on his beliefs rather than the in-game actions of TM.
And on a purely OOC note, any attempt to oppose TM directly was doomed to failure by simple virtue of the fact that, between them, Arash and Mehken seemed to spend more time in-game than all the other Ring leaders put together. Seriously, do their players even need to sleep?
An excellent article. With the notes added by Kryigerof, it serves to highlight the flaws of The Mission's enemies even more than those of The Mission itself. Specifically, "because The Mission is big and influential, it must be bad. Because it is bad, everything about it must be seen in the worst possible light." And whilst quick to point out anything The Mission does wrong, even in the cases where it hadn't, they failed to have any better ideas of viable alternatives. It seemed to me at times that all KDS and Evolution ever did was work to undermine TM day and night. Oluf in particular seemed to have no political agenda beyond opposing TM whenever he could. Perhaps these people had good reasons for doing so, but the end result was the same- precious time and resources wasted in squabbles for power.
Tantavalist joined TM simply because it was clear that the Tower was failing, that something needed doing, and TM seemed to be the only ones doing it. In a crisis situation, it's better to do something now than the perfect thing later. He didn't agree with everything TM, and especially Arash, said, but respected that he was the only one working towards the Tower's repair with something other than obstructive arguments. Those people who say TM was wrong shouldn't criticise Arash, but rather the opposition leaders for failing to provide a viable alternative to TM.
And yes, I personally (and by extension my character) don't have any problems with genetic technology. In fact, on beliefs, Tantavalist was more suited to Evolution than TM, and if EVO had looked like it was going anywhere, that's who he'd have joined.
Yes, this does mean that a character who was becoming an increasingly bigger player in TM and slowly taking over its repair section was a staunch believer in clinical immortality and transhumanism, and yes, there would have been a major clash with Arash down the line. But Tantavalist had enough sense to save it for the time when the argument was more than just an intellectual debate and knuckle down to fix the Tower until then. He'd look at the people arguing against TM apparently for the sake of it and feel like shaking them by the neck and screaming, "Do you not understand that right now we are all going to DIE if the Tower isn't fixed, but you just stand around making trouble for the sake of it?!?"
Arash had a lot of ideas that were nothing more than hazy dreams for some unspecified time in the future, with no real idea of how he would achieve them, only that he wanted to. But the Rings that opposed TM often, to me, seemed exactly the same- the leaders had a hazy idea of forming a Ring to oppose TM and replace it as the major influence, but had no idea how to do it, so just turned up to meetings, yelled loudly, and spread malicious gossip. TM was working to do something- its enemies just worked to undermine TM.
Of course, it will be interesting to read the flood of counter-arguments that are going to follow this.
Well then, despite the objections people have raised about us arranging to meet OOC and getting our characters together, it would seem that we're going to have to do that anyway if we're going to make progress with an RP community. I occasionally wander around the various populated areas, and I'll keep a lookout for the "Seeds that Grow" bevin.
I've been playing the beta, having finally logged in successfully, and I'm feeling a little underwhelmed. I'm getting used to the clunky interface and the old graphics engine, and the puzzles are intrigueing and frustrating in equal measure. But the complete lack of RP is slowly putting me off.
The game setup, with different versions of each age for each player, means you have to delibertately seek other players out in specific areas. And when I have found players, they're all talking OOC all the time. It may be elitist, but I find it very hard to attempt any sort of conversation like that. Where are the RPers? This was supposedly a game with more RP than usual, instead I'm seeing less...
I'd be happy with any Hard-SF setting that had elements of politics, colonisation and exploration in it. A Seed-style setting where everyone was part of setting up a new society would fulfill this, but even setting one aboard another Seed-ship would be too much like Seed for me. There's also the fact that, unless the game is to become rather boring, then there would have to be another disaster which cripples the projest just short of making it hopeless- which really stretches suspension of disbelief for me. After all, would any of us really find it challenging to play in a fully-functional Tower where everything worked?
My own preference would be for a different setting with a different set of challenges. The colonist/pioneer feel could be kept, but I'd be happy for any game with the level of political RP that Seed had.
I've had an idea that I've been playing around with for some years now, in one form or another, of a game where the Solar System has been colonised and Earth is dominant, but failing slowly. The players would be the various major factions other than Earth, and play would span several decades of game-time as they play out the forming of the new order. That's one setting I'd love to try with at least four Seed players... Perhaps the ones who've shown interest in Alpha Centauri, since I envisage something similar.
Of course, I am more than willing to tailor the details of whatever game I run to suit the players, so if there are people interested in IRC gaming with somehting other than a Seed re-creation, then say what sort of thing you'd be into and I'll try and put that together.
Sounds as if there would be a guaranteed high level of attendence if we just tried to re-create Seed in IRC roleplay. Unfortunately, that's one thing I don't think I'd attempt to do as a GM, since I don't feel I have the instinctive "grasp" of the Seed setting that would be required to get the tone right. I was at the periphery of the big events, there are elements (especially technological) that I simply suspended my disbelief for, and I have a tendency to add to a world with spur-of-the-moment improvisation if I think the story needs it.
Seed has a clear vision shared amongst the former players, and whilst I have no doubt that I'd be able to create a fun game for everyone, I don't think it would end up feeling like Seed. If anyone else wants to try and GM it, I'd be willing to help though.
If anyone else posts saying they'd be interested, then I'll start a discussion on what exactly to run. We will need a few players- four or more players and a GM works best in my experience with games where politics between players is going to be a factor- and I'd originally abandoned the idea due to lack of interest. If others speak up, I'll certainly start making plans.
I'd be interested in this, certainly, as player or GM. I'm a great fan of hard-SF settings, and whilst I don't think an exact re-creation of the Seed setting in IRC roleplay would be the same, something along those lines could be great fun.
I got the email and am downloading the client as I write this. Hopefully, I'll see you all in-game soon!
Five confirmed now. Two more until the full set- or like I said, with the expansion we could have the Aliens as the NPCs now and make it semi-realistic that we can't conduct proper negotiations with them.
I've said repeatedly that I'll play in every other thread on this subject, and I'll repeat it here just to make certain nobody forgets to let me know when it happens- which it looks like it might now. Four people posting to say they're in, and Darkhawk and Mir both stated they would play when this was prevoiusly raised. Wow... If they're still interested, we only need one more for the full set!
Is it too soon to remake my call of "Dibs" on playing the Human Hive? 
Same here. It's starting to look like I'll be waiting for the full release after all.
Yes, they mean the Merovingian, who appears in the second and third films and generally just gets called the Frenchman by everyone.
I don't think I'll be trying the Matrix online- I'm already getting into City of Villains, and will be giving URU a try soon, so my MMORPG time is already full. The idea of us forming a Hovership crew and having free trial keys (I instinctively dislike the idea of a game that doesn't just give free trials to anyone who wants them) is getting me wondering whether I can cram another one in, though...
As far as the potential Alpha Centauri RP goes, Darkhawk, Mir and myself already possess the game and are up for playing it. From the sounds of it, Dustman and Oluf are both interested but need to get the game.
All seven factions being RPed would be the ideal, but is very unlikely. If we can get four or five, though, we should have the minimums required to get the game rolling. So, if someone other than the current three has the game and is wanting to play, then shout out. One or two more and we're away.
Thinking about it, if we can get five players, and Darkhawk can pass around the Alien Crossfire expansion, then we could have the two Alien factions from the extras seven as the NPCs- it would make it reasonable that they are almost impossible to negotiate and communicate with compared to the player-run ones.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sold-Out-Softwa … videogames
For those who are looking to buy the game. Come on, £5 for the best computer strategy game ever made- even if you don't want to takie part, you have to try it!
With URU entering open beta soon, several people have said they will be taking part as soon as they can. If the events of the open beta are going to be the start of the URU storyline, then I may well join in myself. However there is one thing that I have been wondering about with regards to the URU game.
What sort of characters are we going to be creating? Are we going to me Mr or Ms Average, wandering into the game world, or are we skilled specialists who are brought in to solve problems?
As I understand from the source material available, there is an abandoned underground city which connects to the ruins of a dimension-spanning civilisation, and we, the players, will be exploring this. But how do we begin exploring? How widely known is the existance of the city? Is there an organised body conducting research which will have recruited us, or do we just stumble across its existance?
What it essentially boils down to is, why is my character going to be there, in the city? The source material on the web that I've seen doesn't cover this in any detail. It talks about the D'ni and their history, but not about the people who explore the city.
It's probably going to be up to Norah to give more concrete answers to this, but I'm sure the rest of us will have some ideas. Just please don't say something like, "Who can we play? Anyone! *smileyface*". I'm well aware of that, and the more I think about it, the more it becomes a problem. We need to know if a certain type of character would clash with t he setting.
Naturally, this could all be avoided by simply giving your character no backstory beyond a name and concentrating on the city. But most roleplaying at first, between people who haven't played the game or the Myst series before, will involve detailss of who we are and where we come from. After all, simply having us all turn up at this mysterious ruin without explanation, saying "Hi, I'm Bob" and then getting down to deciphering strange relics together doesn't seem to be very good RP to me. In Seed we were fresh out of the cloning tanks- our lack of backstory and world knowledge had an in-game explanation. In URU, as far as I can tell, we come from our own Earth in the present day. Lack of backstory won't hold up.
By the way, since there are multiple threads about the game already, and it's going to go live in the near future, perhaps we should have an URU forum created soon.
Wow... We might actually have the game up and running for play soon! I probably won't bother with the open beta, but will definately be signing up the moment the game gets a full release. Seeing the beta version video tutorial on google video managed to push me from vaguely interested to eagerly awaiting.
It'll be fun to have everyone in one game again, since I'm sure that after all the hype we've been given the former Seed players will at all at least give it a try. Here's hoping it delivers what we're expecting.
Permadeath, the only real answer to griefers and powergamers- the prospect that their actions could have permanent, long-term consequencces of any kind is the bane of any non-RPer. This game sounds better and better.
The Seed Roleplaying Community » Posts by Tantavalist
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