Today I'd like to cover a game I didn't know existed only a few days back, a game out of a genre that is heavily under represented on our beloved platform, a(n old-school) sandbox MMORPG named Albion Online!
While the game will be free to play upon release it currently is in phase called "Summer Alpha", meaning that you can only play it if you buy an epic or legendary founder pack from https://albiononline.com/en/founderpacks
Normally the tag free to play alone would be enough to send me running, for multiple reasons I wont get into, but this game caught my attention and I did want to try it out so badly that I even supported them and now I'm really glad I did.
As I think the official website does a good job in providing all the necessary info I've only picked a few things I personally am very excited about the game-design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSZpze0TZHk
Terminology - Sandbox vs. Themepark
For people unaccustomed to the term, in a sandbox (like Albion Online or Eve Online) you don't apply the same formulas as in a themepark (famous themepark-MMORPGs being World of Warcraft, Everquest 2 or Age of Conan).
Instead of solely focusing on creating new dungeons, raids, battlegrounds and whatnot you give the player the tools to shape the world themselves.
Player driven
One central aspect of Albion Online is a player driven economy. About every item you can get in game was made by other players.
Apart from "safe-zones" most of the territory will be conquerable too, giving a nice touch and meaning to guild wars.
By This Axe, I Rule! (Robert E. Howard, Kull)
Quote"You can conquer the vast world of Albion for yourself! Territories mean shelter from the dangers of the wilderness, and room to build villages and gather precious resources. Claim yours, then expand your empire and protect it from invaders!"
But fear not, if are not really into PVP there is also meaningful PVE-content:
Quote"Monster hunting isn’t just a pastime in Albion Online. The creatures you fight provide you with the resources you’ll need to create weapons and items. Arm yourself wisely: Powerful beasts lurk in the world below, and only true heroes can best them!"
One world/realm, one ruleset
Another thing different to most themeparks is that every player of Albion Online plays on the same master server, in one huge game world.
That is one part that I really love from other games such as Eve or Mortal Online as well. Your actions do count a lot more too. Technically there could be a few downsides, but if the developers can distribute the nodes evenly around the (real planet ;)) earth I don't see lag being a major game-breaker.
Kleider machen Leute / Clothes make the (wo)man
There are no predefined classes in Albion Online, instead you decide what you want your character to be. From being a successful farmer, smith or tailor to being a well-known magician or an infamous war-lord, the decision is up to you.
Quote"Forget what you know from other MMOs. There are no classes in Albion Online, which means no restrictions on what you can equip. Experiment to design and create your own perfect build - in Albion Online, you are what you wear!"
Another very interesting feature is what the devs call "truly cross-platform". Apart from the game supporting Linux you may ask what's the big deal. Well, Albion Online is supposed to be playable on the major desktop platforms (Linux, Mac, Windows) as well as mobile platforms (Android and iOS) to its full extent!
They prepared a video to explain that feature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPJstK0ykto
Personal thoughts
One big bonus for me so far: I've played quite a few MMORPGs, especially back in the days, and what struck me most is the community in Albion. I've never ever met a bigger bunch of open and friendly people than in that game. Whenever I felt the urge to ask a question I got dozens of nice answers although I'm sure some of them have been answered zillions of times.
You don't need a beefy rig to play this game. I did try it under Archlinux with Kernel 4.0 an AMD 6950HD (2GB) and the open source drivers (Mesa). I ran like a charm (one of the few unity games I can say that about) and so far I couldn't see any graphical glitches or other issues. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I don't wanna hang out with criminals in real life either, why would I want to in my leisure time?
There's a reason people started to take PK out of MMOs.
^ Umm, yes, this.
The problem with some old-fashioned MMO designs is that they assume that jerks don't exist. Well...I am afraid that assumption is not entirely correct, so all these designs led to a decade of drama and frustration in those games.
Like you, I don't want to spend my spare time with jerks either. And while I cannot entirely avoid said jerks logging into the same online games I do, at least I don't want to notice them for the jerks they are. Which means that good MMOs feature "jerk proof designs". Among things that rules out non-consensual PvP as far as I am concerned.
It's nice to see so many in development MMO's including Linux support.
You can definitely do the first, meaning you can spend all your time cutting down tress and harvesting other resources and killing monsters in PVE.
Well, I don't want to argue, but then you're simply not the target audience.
Imagine if you didn't lose anything if you'd die (like in real life, eh? ;)) at some point there would simply be no need to get better weapons and stuff. We are talking player made economy here!
You could only hinder that by Themepark mechanics such as adding new dungeons over and over with a higher item level. Only that way you could ensure that players keep on playing, even though the have the best items now.
I personally love nothing more than losing all my stuff upon death. It really adds to the thrill. Of course it can be totally frustrating. When I started Mortal Online back in 2010 it took me three evenings (real time) to get a horse from one point to another because I was killed on every route I took. But it was so incredibly much fun fighting these highwaymen.
Now there is another feature, your banks are not global. If you store your valuables in city A and you wander to city B and want to grab them, they are not there (how should they?). You have to hire a caravan or protection or try to stealthily make your way with all your precious goods. But you could be killed and robbed on the way.
This is what makes a sandbox. You have a shovel, you can do pretty much everything, but there are other people trying to throw a bucket of sand in your eyes ;)
But I want to stretch this once more. In contrary to Mortal Online there are way more "safe-zones" meaning no-pvp possible in there.
If you're not into that kind of game, fine, the majority of games is themeparks and more or less WoW-clones anyway.
Last edited by Ser Eduardo Mogambro on 10 Jul 2015 at 6:56 am UTC
View video on youtube.com
Last edited by Ser Eduardo Mogambro on 10 Jul 2015 at 1:18 pm UTC
You seem to be looking to build a very small, specialized player base, then. Strange decision from a business standpoint but who am I to judge?
There's that "themepark" thing again, without bothering to explain what that is or why it's bad. It's clearly meant to be something bad, but the closest I can get from your comments and the OP is "wussy" or "not hardcore" which ends up just sounding like bravado. Can you explain exactly what you mean by "themepark"?
This game is sounding less and less fun and more like a chore all the time. So not only do you have aggravation and frustration due to PKers, you also have aggravation and frustration due to sheer inconvenience. Sounds like a fantastic combination, this'll be a smash hit!
I am not a developer (of Albion Online), but I guess they're aware of that, although they surely hope to get a broader audience to try it out. Mortal Online was said to be a success if it hit 10.000 (subscribing) members, so I guess they are aware that the market for such truly-hardcore-pvp games is a very small one. Still, it is an existing market.
So, ya, if they wanted to do another themepark the target audience would be much broader, but they would also have many more competitors fishing in the same river.
It's not exactly something I mean and it's not anything bad at all! It's simply something different, like apples and bananas. Both are fruit, some people may enjoy both, while others prefer apples and some hate apples and only eat bananas.
There is nothing wrong with this.
The term itself is not well-defined, but basically: A themepark is just like the reallife counterpart. You go into a themepark to have fun (nothing wrong with this, you see?). There are different attractions and different areas and you go by and queue yourself for the attractions you want to see/ride.
A themepark MMORPG is just that, you start leveling your character in a certain area, then move on to the next one. At some point you go into a dungeon, later you're too strong and move to another one.
Too keep you coming back, the owners/developers have to provide you with new attractions.
It all comes down to: linear progression. After you've left a certain area there is basically nothing for you to go back for, apart from memories.
In a sandbox this is different. You get the tools (a shovel, bucket, whatever) and start to shape the world yourself. If they feel like it, they add more sand to the box, meaning that you get another continent and stuff like that.
There are other explanations around the web: [Themepark vs. Sandbox](https://www.google.com/search?q=themepark+vs.+sandbox)
I'm sorry I didn't explain the terms, I wasn't thinking about that being rather specialized terminology, since I've been accustomed to (using) them for many years and I thought games like Minecraft and Co. would've had an impact regarding that. But of course there are few mmorpgs out there for Linux, so my bad!
As I said, you're simply not (part of) the target audience (again, that is not an attack or anything the like!).
Before Everquest and World of Warcraft started to dominate the market, there was a game called Ultima Online and many more games like it. They used to be sandboxes and many people enjoyed them. Then came a huge boom and suddenly there was only Star Wars Galaxies (Pre NGE) that could be called a sandbox.
If it's not your game, absolutely fine by me. I don't like every AAA-game out there and we could probably argue about a lot of games you like that I wouldn't touch and vice versa, but where is the point in that?
I personally dislike games like World of Warcraft although I've played loads of them in the past. I've also played many sandboxes and that's where I find joy. So let's just agree that you're simply not the target audience, just as we both are probably not the target audience for "Barbie's and Ken's Dreamhouse" ;)
I hope that my explanation helped you to get a little insight regarding the terminology, but please refrain from trying to argue about personal taste. The game is not what you desire, right, but it is indeed what I wish for. If this sounds stupid to you, so be it.
Last edited by Ser Eduardo Mogambro on 10 Jul 2015 at 3:28 pm UTC
Yes, I guess me not being their target audience is indeed pretty much the reason why I never played one. I don't think it's the sandbox concept per se that's turning me off, it's the hardcore features like the aforementioned lootable corpses that do that. I am really not a hardcore player by any stretch of imagination and despite I play games for a definite non-casual amount of time, I prefer my games generally to be not very challenging and/or frustrating. Which probably means I am falling through a lot of cracks in the current portfolio of prevalent game designs, although I like to believe that there are many people like me around that are technically neither hardcore nor casual.
However, I don't think that sandbox games automatically imply having a total focus on PK gameplay any more than themepark games would need to be focused exclusively on raids. I rather blame that on MMOs being a segment that's generally not very innovative (to phrase it politely). Most themepark games -are- WoW clones despite there is no god-given reason for that, and most sandbox games are perfectly interchangeable as well. Tbh, having read Albions' feature list, there is not a single idea in there that we haven't seen in another game before, and the only reason we we're even talking about it here in the first place is that it will have Linux support. Other than that, there seem to be at least a half dozen games exactly like it out there already.
Well, to some extent, I actually do, because as I said, if the whole economy is player driven you need something to sustain demand for the goods produced, else everybody will have the best armor for his playstyle in a few months and the economy would be dead.
So the pkers are what make the smiths and merchants and all the other player-types relevant. If there is no dead, there is no "always growing market".
I agree, but I see many technical reasons (lag, scale...) for this, among financial ones. A MMORPG most likely is much more expensive than the average singleplayer (or even multiplayer - we are talking scale here!) game, so they (developers/publishers) want it to be a save bet.
An regarding that: Apart from the story (which is different in most franchises, and be it just little details) and a few mechanics a shooter is a shooter too. I don't see much experiments there. I do see some, but most of these fail, which brings me back to the point: A mmorpg is not cheap to produce, so most will try a safe bet.
That being said: I absolutely understand you. In the past I've played a lot of themeparks as well and it was annoying as hell when we had organized an RP-event and suddenly some jerks started to dance naked on the tables (or worse, began slaughtering) while we could do nothing to stop them, being it by game-mechanics (pve-zone/realm) or because we didn't wear our fighting clothes.
Last edited by Ser Eduardo Mogambro on 10 Jul 2015 at 4:57 pm UTC
I agree with most things you said, but this statement is economically spoken, not correct. Lootable corpses do nothing to create additional demand, as the items taken from your corpse remain in circulation and can be sold or used by the looter. The only things that actually create demand for new items in MMO is either a) growth in players, b) gear obsolescence (e.g. due to levelling) and c) item degradation/destruction.
Wouldn't this depend on the implementation (when/how fast do corpses and with them the loot disappear?) and on the scale of the battle + the inventory size of the winning people among other factors?
I mean, if 5 people pk 2 people and they have enough room in their inventory and the loot is interesting, they will probably take it with them, so nothing "gained" here (economy-wise). On the other hand, it depends on what they do with the loot. If they only "bank" it for harder times (like when they die) it's out of the economy and the dead one has to buy new armor.
If a huge armies fight against each other chances are that people won't have enough inventory space or just fight for the fun and let (part of) the loot rotting and disappearing.
Another thing is: if you can destroy player-made-structures you add to the economy again, because there is constant need for certain materials.
What I want to say: You're generally right that if person A kills person B and takes it's loot the economy doesn't gain anything, because person B may need a new set of armor, but person A now has 2.
But there are many things to be taken into account.
Compare it to a real-world-war. (Today) They are often fought for economical reasons, one being that the winner can rebuild a whole country, making a lot of profit doing this and that's because it's good for the economy if people die and their belongings are destroyed.
For an economy to sustain itself you need some kind of "make things obsolete" mechanism. (*) In themeparks that is the item-spiral (not sure if you call it that in English), it's the way that World of Warcraft does it, by creating higher and higher item-levels that you need to reach as to be able to get to an even higher level.
(*) It's the same as in the real-world, again. Many people keep telling us that the economy needs to grow, but where would it grow? At some point the market would be saturated, everyone would have a certain product. So you need to make them break, you need to make better ones, so people keep pursuing them, wanting to get the best item.
Or you fight some wars, destroy everything and then there can be growth, because you just burned everything down.
Last edited by Ser Eduardo Mogambro on 11 Jul 2015 at 6:00 am UTC