Exploring Other Worlds

Hey everyone!

Happy Thursday! Well, looks like the new year is just around the corner. Are all of you ready? Seriously, I don’t even know where the week went, it feels like it was yesterday that I was writing about how we perceive time passing. It’s funny how life can be isn’t it? And with January coming so fast that means Dune is coming out on DVD and Blu Ray just as fast. Also are DVDs still a thing or have we completely transitioned over to Blu Ray? Anyway, shifting topics; let’s talk about video games, and for today MMORPGs specifically.

For those who are unaware, MMORPG stands for massively multiplayer online role-playing game. There’s so many MMORPGs out there nowadays it would be difficult to come up with a number to give you. Although to give you timeline on how long they’ve been around for, I would say the mid to late nineties are a good frame of time with Ultima Online being the most well-known from that period. Off the top of my head, I believe it was 1997 for Ultima. I was far too young to play it, having just been born the same year. My dad played it though and he would talk about it every now and then, but he wouldn’t rave about it. A little further down the line he’d be playing a different game and one of my favorites without a doubt. That game is Dark Age of Camelot. My dad played it for a few years, I remember watching him play when I was a little kid. In some way I guess it was how we would bond and send time together. It probably fed into why I play MMORPGs so much even today and why I like watching streamers and Youtubers play video games.

Dark Age of Camelot was a great game but unfortunately all I have now are the memories. The game took a hard hit with one of their expansions and many of the players hated the content that was released and never came back. The player base for the game would slowly bleed out over the years and now only a sparse but dedicated community remains. It really is a shame, maybe it’s just the fond memories but there was something magical about the game. The theme and setting were Arthurian legend and was set just after the death of King Arthur, so the fractured kingdom was wrapped in a massive war with itself. Players were divided into three realms of their choice Hibernia, Albion, and Midgard or Ireland, England/Wales, and Norway/Sweden. What I found unique was the use of the mythologies of those regions. There were many character classes that were tailored to their regions mythology and history. Hibernia for instance had banshees and vampiirs, Albion had friars and paladins, and Midgard has Thanes and Valkyries. There are plenty more classes but those were some of the stand outs for me.

As a kid I largely played Hibernia, so I came across beings like leprechauns, the siabrae, fir bolgs and numerous others. My first character was a fir bolg Hero. At the time I just thought “Big guy with big sword is cool!” The community was wonderful and welcoming. I remember grouping up with a family to tackle one of the dungeons before. Now I can’t imagine paying sixty dollars a month for an MMORPG but to each their own and they were a fun group to play with.

The main draw of the game is the player vs. player content which you can do in different battlegrounds depending on your character’s level or in a massive swath of land where you and players from your realm form massive groups to take castles and points of interest and clash with groups from the other realms. These massive groups of players were called zergs and I believe that came from the Blizzard game Starcraft after the fictional alien race of the same name whose signature strategy was using overwhelming numbers.

Speaking of MMORPGs and Blizzard I can’t not mention the MMO that’s I’ve played for so long. World of Warcraft was huge for me; I’ve played off and on for more than a decade. I never thought I would get into it, I would even poke fun at the people who played it. I guess the tables turned quick. The game differs from Dark Age in a few ways. WoW only has two sides that players can choose to join, either the Alliance or the Horde. The Alliance is the superior choice of course, and yes, I am being blatant in my bias. The classes are more limited in number and are shared between the two factions, so they don’t stand out as much. I don’t think it’s entirely fair to condemn Blizzard for how they handled classes in the game as it would be a nightmare to balance. I started playing when the expansion Wrath of the Lich King was going strong and understandably so. Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to replicate the magic or the success of Wrath.

While I’m fond of WoW I can’t not touch on the games and Blizzard’s shortcomings and issues. The writing for the game was never outstanding but you could envelope yourself in the story. There were characters that you could feel drawn to but now everything has become bland and even contrived. Then there is the ongoing trouble the company has found itself wrapped in. There’s been some serious allegations of sexual harassment, sexism, and racism. Sadly, I can’t recommend anything from Blizzard until they shape up.

I think it’s about time to wrap this one up. If you ever find the desire to try out an MMORPG, I’d like to recommend Final Fantasy 14, I’ve yet to be impressed with the story but I know plenty of people enjoy it. The draw for me is easily the gameplay which I find to be fun, and the community is great. Whatever your plans may be for this New Year’s Eve I hope you enjoy your night! I’m looking forward to sharing the next part of “Cinders” with you tomorrow. Thanks for reading and have a great one!

Best,

Aaron Kirby