#mmorpg

[kottkrig]

If you've played RPGs for a long time, did you also use to have a favorite class you always defaulted to at one point in your life, and now it's a completely different one?

When I was a teen I stuck to the magic types, especially the darker ones like warlock/necromancer, and now around 30 I strongly prefer fast-paced melee classes with little to no focus on magic like rogue/warrior/ranger

I think the change might have something to do with me falling in love with cardio fitness in adulthood.... I don't have time to study I need SPEED GOGOGO

[thewebspinner]

Khamira!

[cat-cosplay]

Trying to convince him a Blep isn't part of a dps rotation

[gekinetic]

Wuk Lamat and Koana

[madameevil]

I really only play one MMO, Guild Wars 2. I play it because it's always been respectful of my time.

It never negatively pressures me to play it everyday.

It never punishes me for taking time away and returning.

It never forces me to grind for hundreds of hours relying on RNG.

It never forces me to have a coordinated group of people with a consistent schedule.

I love it for all that. It's not like most MMOs because of all this. It's also unfortunately what a lot of "more intense" gamers complain about. They complain about it being too casual but honestly it just sounds like they're upset they have little to no way to gatekeep the experience.

God forbid you have other hobbies or games to play! God forbid something happens in your life and you need to take time away! Instead of punishing you, the game is good at just welcoming you right back in where you left off. It's comforting and honestly I hope it never changes. It's a reliable game I can always return to no matter how long it's been.

[kakikudoku]

バウ・アルマ 🐾🦴🐶

[bumblegumbees]

Update: The survey is closed. Thank you all so much for taking the survey and sharing it. I'm currently in the process of analyzing the survey data. I will use this post to give everyone updates. Below are the next steps.

- Survey closed: 11/30/2023

- Raffle drawing: TBD. Deadline: Likely winter 2023

- Results: TBD. Published likely mid 2023-mid 2024 (academic publishing can take a while)

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Are you a trans, nonbinary, or gender diverse video game player living in the US/UK/Canada? You are invited to participate in this survey on avatar creation and customization. Follow the link for more information. :) survey respondents will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card for their online gaming store of choice ♥️🎮🏳️‍🌈

https://tinyurl.com/avatarstudyinfo

Who am I? I'm Xan (they/he) :) I am a PhD student at Indiana University and I study avatar creation and play for gender diverse gamers

[tomatopers]

about the hoyoverse boycott

i just wanted to put my two cents out there, as a South Asian:

We knew, from before anything was out, that Natlan would lack skin tone diversity at bare minimum, so it came as no surprise when these characters showed up; To preface my post, this does not make what happened and what's happening okay.

Why are people mad? Obviously, the skin tones are a big part of it. Yes, lightskinned people exist and live, etc, in these cultures- no, they do not make up 100% of them. What Hoyoverse is doing in Natlan is blatantly profiting off of poc cultures/religion in a disrespectful manner, and they have [once again] failed to acknowledge this. A really obvious example of this is the character "Ororon." I am no expert in Olorun, but as many have said, this character is meant to be based off of the deity.

This is awful- there are NO similarities, "Ororon" looks like my gacha life oc from seventh grade, and the disrespect towards the Yoruba people is insane.

As a twitter user whose tag I forgot mentioned, the majority of the Natlan Characters shown so far have been lighter than Lois Griffin [Family Guy].

Onto the boycott itself- If you are going to boycott Genshin, I recommend also boycotting other Hoyoverse games- being f2p isn't hard either, if you do not want to stop playing completely.

Additionally, I will link a petition to the bottom of this post, as well as some other things you can do to protest this.

I do wish I could have seen more of my and my family's culture in Sumeru, and that this backlash could have also occurred there, but in my honest opinion they did worse with Natlan and I'm glad we as a community are choosing to do something about it.

As a closing piece, I would like to point out the frequency of darker skintones in npcs, specifically enemies; The aggressive POC stereotype is both harmful and obviously incorrect, and people like me do not exist just to be placed constantly in secondary/antagonistic roles. Thanks.

Petition: https://www.change.org/p/stop-cultural-appropriation-and-whitewashing-in-mihoyo-games

Twitter posts about sending a feedback email [and template]: https://x.com/alsoknownasaki/status/1542216133734010881

Update bc I did not research ahead of this like a loser: Sumeru is not any better than Natlan actually!!!! Found out Nahida/Kusanali is likely based off of the Persian goddess Nahid and/or the Hindu goddess Saraswati! Sorry 😭

[monicole-art]

Lady of Spiders

I couldnt help it I had to do a Morganthe redesign yall

I wanted to go a regal/queen route, but still keep the bones of her fit! (also make sure she stayed MOTHERING)

[gilbir-t]

it’s embarrassing how long this took

wanted to do this trend on Instagram (that's why the quality is kinda bad)

[redwayfarers]

Hey! You, mmo player! Do you like mmos? I bet you do, that's why you're an mmo player!

So how about I show you a trailer for a very good, subscription free mmo where the base game is a whole story in an expansive and immersive fantasy world with five playable races, including anthro ones if that's your jam?

I'm talking about GUILD WARS 2 BAYBEEEE

COME JOIN US! TYRIA NEEDS YOU!

It's hitting Epic games launcher soon too! Don't miss this masterpiece of a video game!

[grinu]

i forgot about tumblr again

[projektdyad]

🎃Mad Kings Labyrinth🎃

Halloween is coming - so that means the return of The Mad Kings Labyrinth💀

Here is a few tips you can start getting ready for October 15th to maximize your runs!

[cat-cosplay]

Super excited to finally get to share this FINAL FANTASY XIV project with you all!

The Viper was a super fun build!

But the jungles of Tural has some more surprises in store!

Stay tuned!

[eurothug4000]

INTERVIEW ON THE MAKING OF THE CANCELLED MMORPG NINELIVES

Ninelives is the most beautiful RPG that was never completed, but can still be experienced as it was left. As part of my video on the game (now up for early access on Nebula), I also interviewed Tota of SmokymonkeyS on its inspirations and development before its suspension in 2016.

What would you say are your main inspirations for the art style in Ninelives? E.g. other artists, film, games, literature, history etc.!

I was a huge fan of Adventure Gamebook when I was a kid. Well, maybe you don't know what that is. Please read the wiki if you need: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamebook. I was reading (playing) translated oversea gamebooks well, and love the inner artwork especially what draw by monochrome. I had never seen pictures like that before, and had a strong impact on me. So, I wanted to make a gamebook by my self. When I started making my own gamebooks, I learned a lot about how games are made. That's because a gamebook is a medium in which the player can see all the source code. At first I started making gamebooks because I was attracted by the artwork, but my interest eventually shifted to making the game itself.

Related to the above, do you take a lot of inspiration from real world cultures and places? Are there any that you particularly gravitate towards?

I like the mixed culture, like Chinoiserie in France at the 17 century. Plus, since I'm Japanese and this country has always been greatly influenced by China. So I'm not limited to any one of these cultures, but trying to create as I am influenced by all of them. Sometimes people say that what I create looks Japanese, Chinese, or Asian, which is neither correct nor incorrect. I try not to be only of a certain culture when I create. That's because I want to create an imaginary world that is somewhat like reality, but slightly different.

Why did you want to make Ninelives?

Ninelives was the first game I ever thought of making, I think when I was about 17.

Do you think Ninelives being in an unfinished state provides a different atmosphere when playing the game and exploring the world?

I don't particularly think so. The atmosphere of the game is still complete. I wanted the game to be a relaxed, free-roamed adventure for players.

I wasn't certain during my research, so I wanted to confirm if Tomomi Sakuba was involved in Ninelives in any way?

Yeah, Sakuba was involved in Ninelives lots of ways. As you said, he did some of the texture pictures for flowers, plants and tree leaves. He also drawn the world map and area maps of the game like below: http://www.smokymonkeys.com/kyrill/index.asp?direct=138 He actually walked around the world by himself to make this. He was one of the most earliest game tester of the game. Oh, and I have to tell you this. He's a voice actor of male Nightbreed and Elf! In addition, his wife did some of creature voices. Her voice is also used on Triglav too!

What are your own personal thoughts on Ninelives? Is there anything you would drastically change looking back on it? Or any big changes you would want to make if you were to continue development at any point?

Ninelives was too much for me in many ways. It was a world I had been thinking about since I was young, but there were too many things to actually create to handle, and in that sense it's exactly the dream a child thinks about. We are a team of two in SmokymonkeyS, but one of us is in charge of programming and system engineering, and the game itself was created completely by myself. I had to create all the pictures, models, terrain, music, and story by myself. Now if I'm going to make something, I don't make it on such a large scale anymore.

Apart from the Switch release for Garage and occasional updates on Triglav that you mentioned before, is there anything that SmokymonkeyS are working on for the future?

Not yet so far.

I noticed your banner on the official website (http://www.smokymonkeys.com/kyrill/index.asp) has a character on a train platform, I wondered if that might be a future game?

Once it was. It was a previous project of Triglav for mobile. But it was going to be on a larger scale again, so we decided to port Triglav before that. There are no plans to make that game now. But I may make another game with that worldview and atmosphere. For example, as a mobile game.

A big thank you to Tota for taking the time to answer my questions! You can find SmokymonkeyS and their games here: