Hi all. I spent most of the morning writing and gathering some information on MMOs for a 12 year old kid (and his parents) I mentor and tutor in the areas of typing and writing.
I know I learned to type much faster from MMOs and online PC games, even if not using the home row strictly, and figured it would be a fun way for him to get at least a little more practice at typing.
It's not the best edited or well written thing on the planet, but I figured I'd post it here for anyone to see. Who knows, maybe it could be stickied with some edits/additional information that I don't have.
Please let me know if it was useful or informative, and other comments. I've already sent them what I was going to send, but considering I spent all morning on this, I figured I'd at least post it somewhere.
Minor edits done to post it here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
As a general rule of thumb, most game publishers will list the minimum system requirements to run the game. This doesn?t necessarily mean it will run smoothly or be fun to play, however. From my experience, having the majority of the hardware adhering to the recommended requirements (or better) will usually provide an adequate play experience. For example, my old gaming computer from about three years ago is somewhere in the middle of the recommended requirements for World of Warcraft, and I can run it at max detail settings at 1280x1024 very smoothly, and at higher resolutions like 1920x1200 pretty well. It currently uses an Athlon 64 3200+ processor, an nVidia 6800 Ultra 256 MB graphics card, and 512 MB of system RAM.
MMOs typically have an ?up front? cost of buying the initial game (generally including the first month of play for ?free), then a monthly subscription cost of around $15. Generally, if you pay month to month you are charged more than if you did a 6 month payment.
World of Warcraft ?
ESRB Rated ?T? for teen ? Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
Originally released and reviewed in late 2004
Main Website - http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml
Free Trial - <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://signup.worldofwarcraft.com/trial/freetrial.html">https://signup.worldofwarcr......ial/freetrial.html</a>
Reviews-
IGN rating ? 9.1 out of 10
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/580/580777p1.html
Gamespot rating ? 9.5 out of 10
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg...ag=summary;read-review
PC System Requirements (for Wrath of the Lich King, the latest expansion)
OS: Windows XP / Windows Vista (with latest Service Packs)
Processor:
Minimum: Intel Pentium 4 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1500+
Recommended: Dual-core processor, such as the Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2
Memory:
Minimum: 512 MB RAM (1GB for Vista users)
Recommended: 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista users)
Video:
Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 32 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon 7200 or NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or better
Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card or better
Sound: DirectX-compatible sound card or motherboard sound capability
Some observations-
I have quite a bit of personal experience with World of Warcraft (generally referred to as ?WoW?), and am rather familiar with the in-game world as well as many of the positive and negative aspects of the game. I typically enjoyed doing some ?role playing? or ?RP? and would be ?in character? to a certain extent while playing. Most people simply play the game ?as themselves?, for better or worse.
I?ve played WoW on and off for the better part of four years. My highest level character that I played the most (or ?main? as the gaming vernacular goes) was a ?Tauren?, which is essentially a race of large bipedal cow people (I?m not making this up) with many native American overtones to their race, such as an emphasis on respecting nature, revering the ?earth goddess?, and hunting. He was a druid that was slightly insane (in a good way), insisted that his pet mechanical squirrel was named ?Squishy, master of the unknown universe?, and strove to be a goody-goody two shoes that was a reluctant defender of the lands from foreign encroachment (with a particular dislike of gnomes and stinky humans). I particularly enjoyed player versus player battlegrounds, and earned the title of ?Champion.?
Over the years, it?s quite common for players to develop an affinity for their characters (there have been some interesting studies done on human-machine and human-software interaction in this area), and I still think of my character with a degree of fondness.
Since the game is often played with other people, including some of the more rewarding/fun/challenging content which you have to play with others in order to beat it, many real world social graces and expectations exist in some form with many of the players (and I?m guessing this is common in other online games too). People won?t want to play with you if you?re mean, create too much unwanted drama, greedy, or a terrible player. People will probably want to play with you if you?re polite, well spoken, considerate, and skilled.
The flipside of this is that you often see people behave in exaggerated and/or juvenile fashions. It?s not uncommon to see adults squabbling in a general chat channel as if they were two school girls bickering in a grade school cafeteria. Some feel there can be a very high school like ?click? mentality that can be prohibitive in exploring and playing end-game content that requires a large group to play. Essentially, if you?re not one of the ?cool? kids or someone with pull in a group doesn?t like you, you may be out of luck. I?ve experienced this personally a few times.
Rather than sit and resolve a situation politely and like adults, many will simply try to avoid playing with you or make sure you don?t get invited to groups (probably since it?s a game and they don?t want to make an effort or be made uncomfortable). There are real people behind the cartoony characters and sometimes this seems to be taken for granted by other players. Some people are very casual and easy going, some people are very dedicated to mastering everything and exploring every nook and cranny of the game world, and most are probably somewhere in the middle.
The user base would seem to indicate that it?s the most popular of ?current? massively multiplayer online games (generally referred to as ?MMO? or ?MMORPG? for ?massively multiplayer online role-playing game.?) based on the sheer number of subscribers worldwide, currently in excess of 11.5 million. However, I?m not certain if that number is the amount of active subscriptions or not, and doesn?t account for the fair number of people who purchase more than one account.
Part of WoW?s success may be the bandwagon effect. Others attribute this to the popularity of previous Warcraft games and the established ?lore? or back story. Others still claim that the quality of the game, the style of presentation, and the things Blizzard Entertainment (the developer of WoW) got right are what keep people playing and/or coming back. This is despite the fact that the perceived shortcomings of Blizzard?s customer support are a regularly joked/complained about ?feature?, and the concern that some game play mechanics are debatably not very fun / imaginative.
Despite being over four years old, WoW has managed to keep the lead in the MMORPG scene and is still considered the one to beat. There have been a few noteworthy attempts to do so, but most would generally agree that WoW is currently the market leader. The recent introduction of Warhammer Online based on the decades long running Warhammer tabletop role playing/strategy game (also rated ?T? for teen, I believe, and with a greater emphasis on player versus player combat) may prove to be the greatest challenger to WoW?s dominance, but only time will tell.
With its regular release of expansions (both ?free? and purchased), periodic tweaks and updates, large user base, and relatively low system hardware requirements, WoW will probably be around for a few more years.
Things to consider-
I?m guessing similar may apply to other MMOs, but from my experiences I figured I?d try and list some of the pros and cons of WoW.
Pro:
- Though often skewed or exaggerated, you can learn a bit about social interaction and the consequences of your actions. Conflict resolution, leadership, and communication skills can all gain a little something from MMOs.
- In the last year, a built in voice-chat feature was integrated into the game for users that have a microphone, but many players still either don?t use it, prefer to type, and/or use third party software such as teamspeak or ventrilo. I?ve also noticed this has allowed for an interesting hybrid of communication in which people will often type responses/ideas to another person?s dialogue rather than ?hold onto an idea?. It?s a fast way to exchange ideas, and can allow for an interesting level of depth. Typically, voice chat isn?t used by players until reaching the high levels and for coordinating end game content and/or squad based player versus player combat.
- If you find others to role-play with, it can be fun and a great way to be creative and expressive, including typing and describing your character?s reactions and the way they express their ideas and emotions.
- The various classes allow for lots of different and unique strategies to overcome the game?s many challenges, and is one of the things I feel Blizzard got ?right?.
- Once you gain a few levels and get some decent gear, playing against other players in games like capture the flag or invading enemy strongholds can be a blast. There?s nothing quite like taking on a strong opponent(s) and walking away from it victoriously.
- Large player base. There?s a good chance that a real life friend might play, and that you could play with/get help from them.
- If you have a friend with a higher level character, they can help out a ton in tough lower level spots or if you need help getting resources that are hard to obtain at lower level.
- The world is visually interesting, with a very stylized look to. The world is also gigantic. It would easily take hours just to walk across it
- There are both server types and areas that allow for players to play against JUST the many non-player characters (or ?NPCs?) that populate the world, or against other players.
- A complex enough economy and auction house (known as the ?A.H.?) system that some people will spend time and get enjoyment from ?playing? that aspect of the game. Some people who play the AH make a lot of in game currency, which allows them to buy all kinds of interesting, fun, or useful stuff.
- Crafting and collecting trades allow you to make useful or fun items for your character, other people, or make some in-world money.
- Since it?s an older game, it has pretty low hardware system requirements.
- Regular seasonal events and holidays with special quests and rewards
- Regular updates and expansions
- Fairly easy learning curve. You start out with relatively few skills/abilities, and gain more as you get higher in level.
- The game has a sense of humor to it, and some areas are downright silly.
- Predominantly cartoony appearance and lack of realistic blood and gore debatably makes this a little more kid friendly
- Promotions that give either free play time or a mutual boost in experience gain to people who refer friends.
- Guild system allows you to join others with a private group chat channel, share resources, and be part of a group.
- Recently introduced ?achievement system? rewards you with titles and some other fun things for achievements you?ve done, mundane or exceptional.
- Blizzard brags about their parental controls and in game support, including their dealing with harassment from other players
Cons:
- Since you?re dealing with people, you?ll eventually run into some real jerks and creeps.
- Sometimes people get a little too attached to their characters and/or to the game and can allow negative emotions from the game getting to them in the real world.
- Some people can be very unforgiving, resulting in innocent mistakes being unforgiven and blown out of proportion, even years after they?ve occurred.
- ?Grinding? gets old, especially at higher levels. Doing the same task over and over and over to obtain some rare item/material/loot isn?t fun if it?s not a challenge.
- In many ways, the economy of WoW is capitalism to an extreme, and lots of folks get rather greedy and exploitative. I consider this a con, others like it since it can sometimes allow for quick gain of the game?s in world currency.
- MMOs can be addictive to some people, as can any activity to the right person.
- Monthly subscription on top of buying a game kind of sucks, but most justify the expenditure with the rationalization that they are happy paying the same amount for one game that they?ll play all year long rather than for four games they?d play and get tired of.
- Since it?s an older game, it doesn?t have very modern graphics.
- Regular expansions and releases mean maintenance. The game can?t be played most Tuesdays for a few hours, and there are occasionally unexpected problems that lead to game servers going down.
- Until you hit higher levels, you don?t have as many abilities that allow for creative/unique play styles. When you do hit the level cap, you can become very powerful, but you?re generally limited to high end content which can be hard to find groups for on some servers, or player versus player combat.
- Sometimes the higher level content feels like a ?repackaging? of older/lower level material.
- Some parts of the game are pretty dark and some of the villains quite tragic/terrible in their back story, justifying the teen rating.
Guild Wars -
ESRB Rated ?T? for teen ? Use of Alcohol, Violence
?Guild Wars has ZERO monthly fees?
Originally released and reviewed in mid ? 2005
Main Website - http://www.guildwars.com/
Free Trial - http://www.guildwars.com/freetrial/
Reviews ?
IGN rating - 9 out of 10
http://pc.ign.com/articles/612/612079p1.html
Gamespot rating - 9.2 out of 10
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg...ag=summary;read-review
Required System Specs:
Windows XP/2000/ME/98
800 MHz Pentium III or equivalent
256 MB RAM
ATI Radeon 8500 or GeForce 3 or 4 MX with 32MB of video memory
500 MB hard drive space
Internet connection
DirectX 8.0
Recommended System Specs:
Windows XP/2000/ME/98
Pentium III 1GHz or equivalent
512 MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9000 or GeForce 4 Ti Series with 64MB of video memory
500 MB free hard drive space
Internet connection
My thoughts-
My roommate used to play Guild Wars and had a lot of good things about it. It takes a different approach, and in some ways isn?t a ?traditional? MMORPG, which may be a good thing.
With two or three stand alone add-ons you can purchase, as well as an expansion that requires you to own the original game, it?s been around for awhile. With its ZERO subscription fees and regularly strong reviews, Guild Wars is one of the most appealing looking games as far as fun factor goes.
The original release of Guild Wars sold at least 5 million copies, but I don?t have sales figures for the other games.
Guild Wars 2 will be coming out sometime this year.
Lord of the Rings Online ?
ESRB Rated ?T? for teen - Blood and Gore, Use of Alcohol, Use of Tobacco, Violence
Originally released and reviewed mid - 2007
Main website - http://www.lotro.com/
Free Trial - http://www.lotro.com/trial/
Reviews ?
Gamespot rating ? 8.3 out of 10
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg...ag=summary;read-review
IGN rating ? 8.6 out of 10
http://pc.ign.com/articles/787/787942p1.html
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows® XP
Processor: Intel Pentium® 4 1.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 512 MB
Video: 64 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 3 or ATI® Radeon® 8500
Disk Space: 7 GB available
DirectX: DirectX® 9.0c
Optical Drive: 2x DVD-ROM
Internet: 56kbps Modem
Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows® XP / Vista
Processor: Intel Pentium® 4 2.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 1 GB
Video: 128 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® FX 6800 or ATI® Radeon® X850
Disk Space: 10 GB available
DirectX: DirectX® 9.0c
Optical Drive: 2x DVD-ROM
Internet: Broadband DSL/Cable
If you are running below any of these requirements, you may encounter graphical issues or poor overall performance.
My Thoughts ?
The newest game on this list, thus it has slightly more modern system requirements. I?ve not played this either, but I hear that it?s considered similar to World of Warcraft in many ways.
City of Heroes -
ESRB Rated ?T? for teen ? Suggestive Themes, Violence
Originally released and reviewed mid ? 2004
Main website - http://www.cityofheroes.com/
Free Trial - http://www.cityofheroes.com/trial/index.html
Reviews -
IGN rating - 8.4 out of 10
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/541/541264p1.html
Gamespot rating ? 8.4 out of 10
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg...ag=summary;read-review
For Windows PCs:
Minimum System Requirements for City of Heroes:
? Microsoft® Windows® 2000/XP
? Intel® Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon? 800 MHz
? 512 MB RAM
? CD-ROM Drive *
? 4 GB Available HDD Space
? NVIDIA® GeForce 2 Series, ATI? Radeon® 8500 or Intel® i865G Series Video Card
? 16-bit Sound Card
? 56k modem
? DirectX® 9.0c
Recommended System Specifications for City of Heroes:
? Microsoft Windows 2000/XP
? Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or AMD® Athlon XP 2000+
? 1 GB RAM
? 16X CD-ROM Drive *
? 4 GB Available HDD Space
? NVIDIA GeForce 6200
? 16-bit Sound Card
? Broadband Internet Connection DirectX 9.0c
*The Collector?s DVD Edition requires a DVD-ROM Drive
My Thoughts-
Not as appealing as some of the other games out there, and probably the least graphically sophisticated of the more mainstream MMORPGs. City of Heroes is rather cartoony from what I?ve heard and seen.
It seems to do okay for itself against the competition, but I?ve no real personal experience with this title.
I know I learned to type much faster from MMOs and online PC games, even if not using the home row strictly, and figured it would be a fun way for him to get at least a little more practice at typing.
It's not the best edited or well written thing on the planet, but I figured I'd post it here for anyone to see. Who knows, maybe it could be stickied with some edits/additional information that I don't have.
Please let me know if it was useful or informative, and other comments. I've already sent them what I was going to send, but considering I spent all morning on this, I figured I'd at least post it somewhere.
Minor edits done to post it here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
As a general rule of thumb, most game publishers will list the minimum system requirements to run the game. This doesn?t necessarily mean it will run smoothly or be fun to play, however. From my experience, having the majority of the hardware adhering to the recommended requirements (or better) will usually provide an adequate play experience. For example, my old gaming computer from about three years ago is somewhere in the middle of the recommended requirements for World of Warcraft, and I can run it at max detail settings at 1280x1024 very smoothly, and at higher resolutions like 1920x1200 pretty well. It currently uses an Athlon 64 3200+ processor, an nVidia 6800 Ultra 256 MB graphics card, and 512 MB of system RAM.
MMOs typically have an ?up front? cost of buying the initial game (generally including the first month of play for ?free), then a monthly subscription cost of around $15. Generally, if you pay month to month you are charged more than if you did a 6 month payment.
World of Warcraft ?
ESRB Rated ?T? for teen ? Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
Originally released and reviewed in late 2004
Main Website - http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/index.xml
Free Trial - <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://signup.worldofwarcraft.com/trial/freetrial.html">https://signup.worldofwarcr......ial/freetrial.html</a>
Reviews-
IGN rating ? 9.1 out of 10
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/580/580777p1.html
Gamespot rating ? 9.5 out of 10
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg...ag=summary;read-review
PC System Requirements (for Wrath of the Lich King, the latest expansion)
OS: Windows XP / Windows Vista (with latest Service Packs)
Processor:
Minimum: Intel Pentium 4 1.3 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 1500+
Recommended: Dual-core processor, such as the Intel Pentium D or AMD Athlon 64 X2
Memory:
Minimum: 512 MB RAM (1GB for Vista users)
Recommended: 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista users)
Video:
Minimum: 3D graphics processor with Hardware Transform and Lighting with 32 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon 7200 or NVIDIA GeForce 2 class card or better
Recommended: 3D graphics processor with Vertex and Pixel Shader capability with 128 MB VRAM Such as an ATI Radeon X1600 or NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT class card or better
Sound: DirectX-compatible sound card or motherboard sound capability
Some observations-
I have quite a bit of personal experience with World of Warcraft (generally referred to as ?WoW?), and am rather familiar with the in-game world as well as many of the positive and negative aspects of the game. I typically enjoyed doing some ?role playing? or ?RP? and would be ?in character? to a certain extent while playing. Most people simply play the game ?as themselves?, for better or worse.
I?ve played WoW on and off for the better part of four years. My highest level character that I played the most (or ?main? as the gaming vernacular goes) was a ?Tauren?, which is essentially a race of large bipedal cow people (I?m not making this up) with many native American overtones to their race, such as an emphasis on respecting nature, revering the ?earth goddess?, and hunting. He was a druid that was slightly insane (in a good way), insisted that his pet mechanical squirrel was named ?Squishy, master of the unknown universe?, and strove to be a goody-goody two shoes that was a reluctant defender of the lands from foreign encroachment (with a particular dislike of gnomes and stinky humans). I particularly enjoyed player versus player battlegrounds, and earned the title of ?Champion.?
Over the years, it?s quite common for players to develop an affinity for their characters (there have been some interesting studies done on human-machine and human-software interaction in this area), and I still think of my character with a degree of fondness.
Since the game is often played with other people, including some of the more rewarding/fun/challenging content which you have to play with others in order to beat it, many real world social graces and expectations exist in some form with many of the players (and I?m guessing this is common in other online games too). People won?t want to play with you if you?re mean, create too much unwanted drama, greedy, or a terrible player. People will probably want to play with you if you?re polite, well spoken, considerate, and skilled.
The flipside of this is that you often see people behave in exaggerated and/or juvenile fashions. It?s not uncommon to see adults squabbling in a general chat channel as if they were two school girls bickering in a grade school cafeteria. Some feel there can be a very high school like ?click? mentality that can be prohibitive in exploring and playing end-game content that requires a large group to play. Essentially, if you?re not one of the ?cool? kids or someone with pull in a group doesn?t like you, you may be out of luck. I?ve experienced this personally a few times.
Rather than sit and resolve a situation politely and like adults, many will simply try to avoid playing with you or make sure you don?t get invited to groups (probably since it?s a game and they don?t want to make an effort or be made uncomfortable). There are real people behind the cartoony characters and sometimes this seems to be taken for granted by other players. Some people are very casual and easy going, some people are very dedicated to mastering everything and exploring every nook and cranny of the game world, and most are probably somewhere in the middle.
The user base would seem to indicate that it?s the most popular of ?current? massively multiplayer online games (generally referred to as ?MMO? or ?MMORPG? for ?massively multiplayer online role-playing game.?) based on the sheer number of subscribers worldwide, currently in excess of 11.5 million. However, I?m not certain if that number is the amount of active subscriptions or not, and doesn?t account for the fair number of people who purchase more than one account.
Part of WoW?s success may be the bandwagon effect. Others attribute this to the popularity of previous Warcraft games and the established ?lore? or back story. Others still claim that the quality of the game, the style of presentation, and the things Blizzard Entertainment (the developer of WoW) got right are what keep people playing and/or coming back. This is despite the fact that the perceived shortcomings of Blizzard?s customer support are a regularly joked/complained about ?feature?, and the concern that some game play mechanics are debatably not very fun / imaginative.
Despite being over four years old, WoW has managed to keep the lead in the MMORPG scene and is still considered the one to beat. There have been a few noteworthy attempts to do so, but most would generally agree that WoW is currently the market leader. The recent introduction of Warhammer Online based on the decades long running Warhammer tabletop role playing/strategy game (also rated ?T? for teen, I believe, and with a greater emphasis on player versus player combat) may prove to be the greatest challenger to WoW?s dominance, but only time will tell.
With its regular release of expansions (both ?free? and purchased), periodic tweaks and updates, large user base, and relatively low system hardware requirements, WoW will probably be around for a few more years.
Things to consider-
I?m guessing similar may apply to other MMOs, but from my experiences I figured I?d try and list some of the pros and cons of WoW.
Pro:
- Though often skewed or exaggerated, you can learn a bit about social interaction and the consequences of your actions. Conflict resolution, leadership, and communication skills can all gain a little something from MMOs.
- In the last year, a built in voice-chat feature was integrated into the game for users that have a microphone, but many players still either don?t use it, prefer to type, and/or use third party software such as teamspeak or ventrilo. I?ve also noticed this has allowed for an interesting hybrid of communication in which people will often type responses/ideas to another person?s dialogue rather than ?hold onto an idea?. It?s a fast way to exchange ideas, and can allow for an interesting level of depth. Typically, voice chat isn?t used by players until reaching the high levels and for coordinating end game content and/or squad based player versus player combat.
- If you find others to role-play with, it can be fun and a great way to be creative and expressive, including typing and describing your character?s reactions and the way they express their ideas and emotions.
- The various classes allow for lots of different and unique strategies to overcome the game?s many challenges, and is one of the things I feel Blizzard got ?right?.
- Once you gain a few levels and get some decent gear, playing against other players in games like capture the flag or invading enemy strongholds can be a blast. There?s nothing quite like taking on a strong opponent(s) and walking away from it victoriously.
- Large player base. There?s a good chance that a real life friend might play, and that you could play with/get help from them.
- If you have a friend with a higher level character, they can help out a ton in tough lower level spots or if you need help getting resources that are hard to obtain at lower level.
- The world is visually interesting, with a very stylized look to. The world is also gigantic. It would easily take hours just to walk across it
- There are both server types and areas that allow for players to play against JUST the many non-player characters (or ?NPCs?) that populate the world, or against other players.
- A complex enough economy and auction house (known as the ?A.H.?) system that some people will spend time and get enjoyment from ?playing? that aspect of the game. Some people who play the AH make a lot of in game currency, which allows them to buy all kinds of interesting, fun, or useful stuff.
- Crafting and collecting trades allow you to make useful or fun items for your character, other people, or make some in-world money.
- Since it?s an older game, it has pretty low hardware system requirements.
- Regular seasonal events and holidays with special quests and rewards
- Regular updates and expansions
- Fairly easy learning curve. You start out with relatively few skills/abilities, and gain more as you get higher in level.
- The game has a sense of humor to it, and some areas are downright silly.
- Predominantly cartoony appearance and lack of realistic blood and gore debatably makes this a little more kid friendly
- Promotions that give either free play time or a mutual boost in experience gain to people who refer friends.
- Guild system allows you to join others with a private group chat channel, share resources, and be part of a group.
- Recently introduced ?achievement system? rewards you with titles and some other fun things for achievements you?ve done, mundane or exceptional.
- Blizzard brags about their parental controls and in game support, including their dealing with harassment from other players
Cons:
- Since you?re dealing with people, you?ll eventually run into some real jerks and creeps.
- Sometimes people get a little too attached to their characters and/or to the game and can allow negative emotions from the game getting to them in the real world.
- Some people can be very unforgiving, resulting in innocent mistakes being unforgiven and blown out of proportion, even years after they?ve occurred.
- ?Grinding? gets old, especially at higher levels. Doing the same task over and over and over to obtain some rare item/material/loot isn?t fun if it?s not a challenge.
- In many ways, the economy of WoW is capitalism to an extreme, and lots of folks get rather greedy and exploitative. I consider this a con, others like it since it can sometimes allow for quick gain of the game?s in world currency.
- MMOs can be addictive to some people, as can any activity to the right person.
- Monthly subscription on top of buying a game kind of sucks, but most justify the expenditure with the rationalization that they are happy paying the same amount for one game that they?ll play all year long rather than for four games they?d play and get tired of.
- Since it?s an older game, it doesn?t have very modern graphics.
- Regular expansions and releases mean maintenance. The game can?t be played most Tuesdays for a few hours, and there are occasionally unexpected problems that lead to game servers going down.
- Until you hit higher levels, you don?t have as many abilities that allow for creative/unique play styles. When you do hit the level cap, you can become very powerful, but you?re generally limited to high end content which can be hard to find groups for on some servers, or player versus player combat.
- Sometimes the higher level content feels like a ?repackaging? of older/lower level material.
- Some parts of the game are pretty dark and some of the villains quite tragic/terrible in their back story, justifying the teen rating.
Guild Wars -
ESRB Rated ?T? for teen ? Use of Alcohol, Violence
?Guild Wars has ZERO monthly fees?
Originally released and reviewed in mid ? 2005
Main Website - http://www.guildwars.com/
Free Trial - http://www.guildwars.com/freetrial/
Reviews ?
IGN rating - 9 out of 10
http://pc.ign.com/articles/612/612079p1.html
Gamespot rating - 9.2 out of 10
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg...ag=summary;read-review
Required System Specs:
Windows XP/2000/ME/98
800 MHz Pentium III or equivalent
256 MB RAM
ATI Radeon 8500 or GeForce 3 or 4 MX with 32MB of video memory
500 MB hard drive space
Internet connection
DirectX 8.0
Recommended System Specs:
Windows XP/2000/ME/98
Pentium III 1GHz or equivalent
512 MB RAM
ATI Radeon 9000 or GeForce 4 Ti Series with 64MB of video memory
500 MB free hard drive space
Internet connection
My thoughts-
My roommate used to play Guild Wars and had a lot of good things about it. It takes a different approach, and in some ways isn?t a ?traditional? MMORPG, which may be a good thing.
With two or three stand alone add-ons you can purchase, as well as an expansion that requires you to own the original game, it?s been around for awhile. With its ZERO subscription fees and regularly strong reviews, Guild Wars is one of the most appealing looking games as far as fun factor goes.
The original release of Guild Wars sold at least 5 million copies, but I don?t have sales figures for the other games.
Guild Wars 2 will be coming out sometime this year.
Lord of the Rings Online ?
ESRB Rated ?T? for teen - Blood and Gore, Use of Alcohol, Use of Tobacco, Violence
Originally released and reviewed mid - 2007
Main website - http://www.lotro.com/
Free Trial - http://www.lotro.com/trial/
Reviews ?
Gamespot rating ? 8.3 out of 10
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg...ag=summary;read-review
IGN rating ? 8.6 out of 10
http://pc.ign.com/articles/787/787942p1.html
Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows® XP
Processor: Intel Pentium® 4 1.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 512 MB
Video: 64 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 3 or ATI® Radeon® 8500
Disk Space: 7 GB available
DirectX: DirectX® 9.0c
Optical Drive: 2x DVD-ROM
Internet: 56kbps Modem
Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows® XP / Vista
Processor: Intel Pentium® 4 2.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM: 1 GB
Video: 128 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® FX 6800 or ATI® Radeon® X850
Disk Space: 10 GB available
DirectX: DirectX® 9.0c
Optical Drive: 2x DVD-ROM
Internet: Broadband DSL/Cable
If you are running below any of these requirements, you may encounter graphical issues or poor overall performance.
My Thoughts ?
The newest game on this list, thus it has slightly more modern system requirements. I?ve not played this either, but I hear that it?s considered similar to World of Warcraft in many ways.
City of Heroes -
ESRB Rated ?T? for teen ? Suggestive Themes, Violence
Originally released and reviewed mid ? 2004
Main website - http://www.cityofheroes.com/
Free Trial - http://www.cityofheroes.com/trial/index.html
Reviews -
IGN rating - 8.4 out of 10
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/541/541264p1.html
Gamespot rating ? 8.4 out of 10
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg...ag=summary;read-review
For Windows PCs:
Minimum System Requirements for City of Heroes:
? Microsoft® Windows® 2000/XP
? Intel® Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon? 800 MHz
? 512 MB RAM
? CD-ROM Drive *
? 4 GB Available HDD Space
? NVIDIA® GeForce 2 Series, ATI? Radeon® 8500 or Intel® i865G Series Video Card
? 16-bit Sound Card
? 56k modem
? DirectX® 9.0c
Recommended System Specifications for City of Heroes:
? Microsoft Windows 2000/XP
? Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or AMD® Athlon XP 2000+
? 1 GB RAM
? 16X CD-ROM Drive *
? 4 GB Available HDD Space
? NVIDIA GeForce 6200
? 16-bit Sound Card
? Broadband Internet Connection DirectX 9.0c
*The Collector?s DVD Edition requires a DVD-ROM Drive
My Thoughts-
Not as appealing as some of the other games out there, and probably the least graphically sophisticated of the more mainstream MMORPGs. City of Heroes is rather cartoony from what I?ve heard and seen.
It seems to do okay for itself against the competition, but I?ve no real personal experience with this title.
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