The Starfighter Invitation

Начало книги

No-one wins an MMO. They’re games that are designed around progression: gaining max level, then working with a group to get the very best gear, with countless time fillers to keep you busy until the next game expansion is released, and then you start the grind all over again. Plot optional, and the only real boasting rights in being the first to do something. First to max level. First to down a raid boss. First to unlock gated content, or reach a new zone.

The last is what I like to do—or pretend to do, by avoiding chat after an initial release, keeping my nose out of forums, and exploring the game as if I wasn’t following a thoroughly trampled path.

Because no-one’s really first in an MMO. Any game that deserves the label massively multiplayer takes a cast of thousands to put together. Developers bring it to the in-house alpha testing stage. A horde of lucky volunteers get to hunt bugs for free in the closed beta test. And tens or even hundreds of thousands swarm the open beta, trying before buying as the developers stress test the servers. By the day of release there’ll be entire player-built databases full of maps, discussions, quest solutions, character builds, prime levelling spots, and probably the strats for at least the low-level dungeons.

Читать дальше →