Tabula Rasa, now with no FUN!

[Nebu]

In reference to?  The aiming mechanism,  or the desire to keep playing the game?

The latter.  What keeps you playing?  Having played about every mainstream MMO my greatest hurdle is finding a reason to play after getting a handle on the endgame.  I'm unfamiliar with the TR endgame and thought one of you playing could give me some insight.

[HaemishM]

AFAIK there isn't one yet.

[Nebu]

AFAIK there isn't one yet.

Nothing installs confidence like knowing that the endgame will be "patched in later". 

Awesome.

[Johny Cee]

In reference to?  The aiming mechanism,  or the desire to keep playing the game?

The latter.  What keeps you playing?  Having played about every mainstream MMO my greatest hurdle is finding a reason to play after getting a handle on the endgame.  I'm unfamiliar with the TR endgame and thought one of you playing could give me some insight.

I only ever play a game as long as it's fun.  I managed to get a solid 1.5-2 months of fun out of TR,  and I'm more than happy with the purchase.  Hell,  I got a couple of weeks fun out of CP base defense and fighting in the trench Tale was talking about earlier in this thread.

I'm cancelled now.  Lost interest right before the EVE recruitment thread,  so finally decided to give EVE a shot.  I'll probably check out TR again in 6 months or so,  see if they rolled out some new content.

I still think everyone with an interest in MMOs should check out what TR does with mob AI/scripting.  Some brillant stuff there.

[Tale]

I managed to get a solid 1.5-2 months of fun out of TR,  and I'm more than happy with the purchase.  Hell,  I got a couple of weeks fun out of CP base defense and fighting in the trench Tale was talking about earlier in this thread.
...
I still think everyone with an interest in MMOs should check out what TR does with mob AI/scripting.  Some brillant stuff there.

I wholeheartedly agree. If you buy a single-player offline game and get a month or two of memorable fun, it's a good purchase. Just because it's a MMOG doesn't mean you need a longer period of fun to get value - that's only the case if you continue paying the subscription after you stop having fun.

I'm in month #2 and the combat system and environments are giving me a heap of fun. As I said above I'm playing quite casually, I'm only level 22 out of 50 so far.

[Venkman]

GameDaily article on NC Soft's 2007 fiscals. Part of it is about TR:

The launch of Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa with sales of 5 billion won ($5.4 million)

I don't know if that's sales of boxes alone (which would calculate out to be a bit over 100k units), or if it's sales plus revenue from the first billed month (which would be the second month after launch). This may be contained within their annual report, but I don't have time to look for it atm.

[Trippy]

I would assume it includes the first paid month of subscription for those who bought it before the end of November and didn't cancel. Also NCsoft doesn't get the full retail price of the boxed product if bought in a store.

[Venkman]

Oh yea, that's a good point. Wonder then what percentage the get. Could be 10-25%, hard to know without sellthru infoz. However, whatever it is, they seem to have sold a fair bit, which isn't bad.

[Tannhauser]

You know it's a pretty solid game but has no 'hook' for me yet.  I don't know what the hook would be either, it's that certain something that keeps you playing when you should be logging off to go to bed.

I am not going past the first month, but I'll keep an eye on it in case they put something in that attracts me.

[Tale]

You know it's a pretty solid game but has no 'hook' for me yet.  I don't know what the hook would be either, it's that certain something that keeps you playing when you should be logging off to go to bed.

I am not going past the first month, but I'll keep an eye on it in case they put something in that attracts me.

You bought the game without using my 3-day trial code first :(

[Tannhauser]

Yeah I haven't updated my email here so I didn't get it.   

Many thanks though.

[WindupAtheist]

Has the "Tabula Rasa a financial disaster, people shitcanned!" story been posted here yet?

[Trippy]

Nope. Not surprising, though.

[SnakeCharmer]

Ouch.

[Merusk]

Ouch indeed, as the ones who actually fucked it up are the ones who get to stay.

The company's chief financial officer Lee Jae-ho said last week that it was inevitable to reduce staff levels at the Texas subsidiary as the ``Tabula Rasa'' game has proven to be a financial disaster. Lee, however, said the project's leaders will keep their positions.

Hope this doesn't affect Scott or his project. 

[Ratman_tf]

I think we all smelled disaster, but this is the first real hint of it. 

[Signe]

Don't say "Scott", say "Lum" or he might not see it.  Big and in red, too, because he's no spring chicken anymore. 

LUM, ARE YOU OK???

[tazelbain]

Given how long this project took its like 2 failed MMO not just one.
How General Garriott isn't being court marshaled, I don't know.

[LK]

Ya, I was thinking, "Gee at least Garriott made it out alright."

[HaemishM]

That article can't be right. According to the Korean Won to Dollar calculation I found, 5 billion won = about $5.2 million US, and 100 billion won is about $100 million US. Are you telling me they spent $100 MILLION FUCKING DOLLARS on Tabula Rasa?

... the fuck?

EDIT: Because Tabular Rasa sounds like an Excel game.

[Ratman_tf]

Given how long this project took its like 2 failed MMO not just one.
How General Garriott isn't being court marshaled, I don't know.

They tried, but he was posessed by aliens or some shit like that.

[Xanthippe]

Has the "Tabula Rasa a financial disaster, people shitcanned!" story been posted here yet?

The damage control plan was announced after the company saw only 5 billion won of revenue from the game, which is believed to have cost the firm more than 100 billion won, one of the most distressing investments in the history of the Korean game industry. NCsoft's stock price plummeted to 38,600 won on Monday, the lowest in its history.

So the conversion I found is 1 million Korean won to 1,056 dollars (today).  So about 1million won is 1thousand dollars.

5 billion won is about 5 million dollars.  100 billion won is about 100 million dollars.

Ouch.

[KallDrexx]

Ouch indeed, as the ones who actually fucked it up are the ones who get to stay.

Um, that's usually the case.  Same thing with other games that have massively "downsized" before.

[Lucas]

Perhaps the downsize will just involve the TR team, while the other two offices (Dungeon Runners and the game Lum is working on, beside others working on unannounced stuff ) will stay fully staffed...

[Triforcer]

When will people learn that only fantasy settings work in MMOs?  Making a non-fantasy MMO for the MMO demographic is like trying to sell mountain bikes or porn involving non-Asians to the MMO demographic.  Its not going to work because almost all the target demographic has no pre-existing interest in it. 

[Merusk]

Ouch indeed, as the ones who actually fucked it up are the ones who get to stay.

Um, that's usually the case.  Same thing with other games that have massively "downsized" before.

Yeah, I know and am fully aware of that and that hit happens to other industries the same way as I've watched my employer shrink from 400+ people to 250 over the last 18 months.   Doesn't stop me from hoping not everyplace is quite so fucked and stupid.   After all, without hope I have nothing to feed to my cynicism.

[Ratman_tf]

When will people learn that mediocre games aren't worth 100 million dollars to make.

 

[naum]

Has the "Tabula Rasa a financial disaster, people shitcanned!" story been posted here yet?

Perhaps it just me, but this blurb induced mega-roofles…

NCsoft already replaced Robert Garriott from the chief position of the U.S. operation with Chris Chung, and the former is now ``free from day-to-day operations,'' Lee said. The company spokeswoman said Richard Garriott, the genius that NCsoft has counted on, will work to improve the ``Tabula Rasa'' service. Garriott is also on his personal mission to be a space tourist this year, being trained at a Russian space center from last month.

…I think Lord British ran out of "genius" many eons ago…

[naum]

When will people learn that only fantasy settings work in MMOs?  Making a non-fantasy MMO for the MMO demographic is like trying to sell mountain bikes or porn involving non-Asians to the MMO demographic.  Its not going to work because almost all the target demographic has no pre-existing interest in it. 

If Blizzard made "World of Starcraft", it would enjoy the same success as WoW (though it, no doubt, would cannibalize some of its WoW base).

[Lantyssa]

Maybe Brad McQuaid and Richard Garriott can make a game together.  I bet it'd be awesome!

[Ratman_tf]

Maybe Brad McQuaid and Richard Garriott can make a game together.  I bet it'd be awesome!

[Sir Fodder]

Thanks for that Korea Times link, surprised this news didn't come sooner. Love the typical crap of inevetable reductions of staff yet "the project's leaders will keep their positions." I thought the game was awfully bad yet felt that there must be some brilliant people behind the scenes responsible for some of the interesting parts.

The company spokeswoman said Richard Garriott, the genius that NCsoft has counted on, will work to improve the ``Tabula Rasa'' service. Garriott is also on his personal mission to be a space tourist this year, being trained at a Russian space center from last month.

Umm, wouldn't training to be a freaking astronaut somewhat preclude pulling one of the biggest gaming disasters ever back from the abyss? That is just too bizarre...

I hope when all this is said and done that those folks find some good jobs, and that LB goes on to making small scale indy type RPGs, his track record clearly shows that as the teams got bigger his games got worse.

[Nevermore]

Follow-up.

[Aez]

Here's another cliche to chew on: "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... it must be a duck." Sure, you might think this is just NCsoft PR spin. And in this day and age of jaded, conspiracy theorists who walk around with a glass that's half empty (instead of half full) wanting immediate gratification... that's to be expected. But remember: every cliche started from truth. And truth might be the very thing lacking in this report from The Korea Times.

Shame on us! We don't deserve the high quality online games released those past few years. It's our fault if we can't see the good aspects of those great products.

I hope we'll soon get a Toyota in that Ford/GM fail market.

[Lum]

Don't say "Scott", say "Lum" or he might not see it.  Big and in red, too, because he's no spring chicken anymore. 

LUM, ARE YOU OK???

YES!

We're actually still hiring folks (just brought on a new concept artist and an animator off TR this month).

Dunno how much I can say about the story (pretty sure the company's working on a response) but the numbers quoted are wrong (esp. in terms of the game's development budget) and there's been no layoffs. They're talking about reducing the size of the TR team post-ship, but they've been trying to place them elsewhere on other teams (like ours) to ensure they still have work.

The Korean press, I'm given to understand, is fairly... spirited.