Raph is no longer taunting us (Metaplace)

[Cuppycake]

Yes, we will be offering some amount of image hosting, but it is also possible to simply paste in links from elsewhere.  We know that a lot of people already have images hosted elsewhere on the net.  As far as the legal questions go - yes, we have lawyers handling all those sort of things ;)

Remember that the games don't even have to be played on our portal.  They could be embedded in the header on F13.  They could be running on someone's RPG website that contains all sorts of Metaplace RPG games.  There are a lot of comparisons with things like Second Life and Furcadia - but the reality is that whatever experience you want out of Metaplace is what you will get.  If you want to play a fantasy MMORPG, you can view just those games.  If you want to play a game that teaches you to speak Japanese, you'll only view the educational games.  If you want to play a hack and slash Diablo game, you'll find it.  And yes - if you want to dress up like a squirrel and slay other squirrels with giant penises - you'll probably find a world like that too.  (It might even be made by Schild..)

[schild]

And yes - if you want to dress up like a squirrel and slay other squirrels with giant penises - you'll probably find a world like that too.  (It might even be made by Schild..)

I don't see Raptor Jesus in that description.

[Pennilenko]

And yes - if you want to see Raptor Fucking Jeesus slaying squirrels with giant penises - you'll probably find a world like that too.  (It might even be made by Schild..)

I don't see Raptor Jesus in that description.

I want my dino mesiah now!

and /fixed

P.S. I think i really like this forum place. My kind of people here, yup, definitely.

[Ironwood]

So, wait, if the villagers are eating all the sheep then the dragon comes down from the mountain side to harass the village ?

It's Genius !!!

[HaemishM]

From what little has been revealed so far it does seem that it is  just the "web but really cool" But also comes  all the commercialism  and stuff we hate:  Ads, clicks for money, general intrusiveness, privacy concerns, etc.

Please look up on this page.

All that shit? It's already here and it's not going away. It's why Lum now has a blog that he doesn't have to take donations for. It's why I have a blogspace all to my lonesome. It's why YouTube is hosting so much diverse shit.

I'm as much of an anti-ad intrustion guy as the next, but fuck it, that ship has long since sailed. The Internet is one big gaggle of libertarian fuckers looking to monetize their way out of their regular, boring jobs.

[Viin]

I think that gamer adversion to subscription models has sailed a long time ago. I'd much rather pay 5/10 month than deal with ads.

[schild]

So, wait, if the villagers are eating all the sheep then the dragon comes down from the mountain side to harass the village ?

It's Genius !!!

The Trogdor comes in the NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT.

[HaemishM]

I think that gamer adversion to subscription models has sailed a long time ago. I'd much rather pay 5/10 month than deal with ads.

The businesses who will be building these things have something to say to you.

Tough tittie.

You will see less subscriber model MMOG's as time goes on, and more free with ad-support type of games.

[Viin]

The businesses who will be building these things have something to say to you.

Tough tittie.

You will see less subscriber model MMOG's as time goes on, and more free with ad-support type of games.

I know I know. Heck, I work for one of the biggest media and advertisement companies in the US (to my dismay).

But, I'm willing to bet we will be full circle back to 1998 when premium games cost lots of money and free ad-driven games are reserved for the common internet user and not "real" gamers.

[squirrel]

Need more understanding.  I'm off to reread the blurbs. 

[Edit]
Got it.  It's an API with paid services.  It's Blogger meets BlitzBasic meets WoW modding.  I finally feel sorry for the Torque guy.

Hmmm, I interpreted that it's more than that. It sounds like an IDE & content tools with Webservice/SOAP type support (the API bit) and some sort of persistent user to user network. Or sumsuch. I'm too old to be Web 2.0 hip...

[Grand Design]

Meatplace, with its 'game-in-a-forum-in-a-browser-in-a-portal-on-your-cell-phone', is starting to sound like eXistenZ. 

And we all know how that ended up: trout-farm games.

[Numtini]

And yes - if you want to dress up like a squirrel and slay other squirrels with giant penises - you'll probably find a world like that too.

From the lightheartedness of that comment, I suspect you have no idea what you're in for.

[schild]

And yes - if you want to dress up like a squirrel and slay other squirrels with giant penises - you'll probably find a world like that too.

From the lightheartedness of that comment, I suspect you have no idea what you're in for.

I'm going to make a game that would make Hitler squeemish.

[Cuppycake]

And yes - if you want to dress up like a squirrel and slay other squirrels with giant penises - you'll probably find a world like that too.

From the lightheartedness of that comment, I suspect you have no idea what you're in for.

We've all spent enough time on the internet to know what we're in for ;) 

[schild]

We've all spent enough time on the internet to know what we're in for ;) 

$10 says I can make you take that back.

[Mrbloodworth]

We've all spent enough time on the internet to know what we're in for ;) 

$10 says I can make you take that back.

Ill help =)

[Kaa]

Got it.  It's an API with paid services.  It's Blogger meets BlitzBasic meets WoW modding.  I finally feel sorry for the Torque guy.

Well, kinda. I read it as a big chunk of middleware, along with a toolset and the ability to use/buy certain services, e.g. hosting. It's like Unreal/TFC modding except that your server can handle (much) more people and is plugged into the web.

I think it will stand or fall on the quality of design that went into it -- architecture/protocol design, not graphics. People whose creativity limit is rearranging furny in their Habbo room will probably be happy regardless, but Areae seems to depend on third-party games/worlds for the "real" content. If their API turns out to be painful, the third-party content won't be there.

Kaa

[Kaa]

We've all spent enough time on the internet to know what we're in for ;) 

:D

Kaa

[Soln]

We've all spent enough time on the internet to know what we're in for ;) 

$10 says I can make you take that back.

She is from FoH.   

[schild]

We've all spent enough time on the internet to know what we're in for ;) 

$10 says I can make you take that back.

She is from FoH.   

Doesn't matter. And I know.

[Merusk]

One of the rules of the internet is; no matter how jaded, prepared-for and hardened you think you are, SOMEONE can always find a pic, link, topic that will make you erpy and wonder why the fuck humans are worth keeping around.

[Morat20]

I think it will stand or fall on the quality of design that went into it -- architecture/protocol design, not graphics. People whose creativity limit is rearranging furny in their Habbo room will probably be happy regardless, but Areae seems to depend on third-party games/worlds for the "real" content. If their API turns out to be painful, the third-party content won't be there.

Kaa

Damn skippy. One hopes, for Raph's business sake, that he hired the very best. Admittedly, Second Life shows you can do wonders with a cobbled-together system that was never designed for anything like what it ended up as --- but really, planning ahead works best.

A good API, a solid architecture -- I'd see what I could do.

[Simond]

One of the rules of the internet is; no matter how jaded, prepared-for and hardened you think you are, SOMEONE can always find a pic, link, topic that will make you erpy and wonder why the fuck humans are worth keeping around.

It'll be fun when /b/ and w-hat show up. 

[Typhon]

At what point, Raph, did you snap?  What point was it that you said, "you know, fuck it, I don't have to make a game that I want to play, for people to buy,... I can just be a whore for advertising dollars!"

I'd like to say that I couldn't be more tired of souless and soul-crushing advertising (as I look up at the bright Days Inn banner ad on f13), but I know that the true hell hasn't even begun.

Fuck.

[Grublet]

Since there's virtual currency that can be cashed out for real money, I'm guessing no gambling of any form or else Uncle Sam will want to rape you. So much for Meatplace Casino.

[Count Nerfedalot]

I think it will stand or fall on the quality of design that went into it -- architecture/protocol design, not graphics. People whose creativity limit is rearranging furny in their Habbo room will probably be happy regardless, but Areae seems to depend on third-party games/worlds for the "real" content. If their API turns out to be painful, the third-party content won't be there.

Kaa

Damn skippy. One hopes, for Raph's business sake, that he hired the very best. Admittedly, Second Life shows you can do wonders with a cobbled-together system that was never designed for anything like what it ended up as --- but really, planning ahead works best.

A good API, a solid architecture -- I'd see what I could do.

well, let's see.  Raph's last game featured awesome motion-captured dancing, buttloads of complex interconnected systems which never did work as intended, and database problems out the wazoo.  So, either Raph learned a valuable lesson about the importance, nay, primacy of getting the system architecture and infrastructure right, or we're in for another lagtastic fiasco with some pretty shiny bits and interesting ideas largely obscured, unreachable, or unusable due to not enough time invested in getting the core systems to work flawlessly.

I hope for the best, but I fear the worst.

[WindupAtheist]

I mentioned this to a few MMO people and they went apeshit.  Expect to see the "wannabe MMO developer" crowd go nuts.

[schild]

I mentioned this to a few MMO people and they went apeshit.  Expect to see the "wannabe MMO developer" crowd go nuts.

Well. Duh.

[UnSub]

I mentioned this to a few MMO people and they went apeshit.  Expect to see the "wannabe MMO developer" crowd go nuts.

Well. Duh.

I'm planning to pillage all the failed Metaplace MMO attempts for art / programming / concepts that I can use in my uber-MMO. Because I will succeed where others have failed, dammit.

[Ironwood]

I mentioned this to a few MMO people and they went apeshit.  Expect to see the "wannabe MMO developer" crowd go nuts.

Right up to the point at which it becomes even a little bit hard or they meet *shock* an asshole online and run out of steam and enthusiasm and go back to WoW.

[Samwise]

Areae’s many revenue models
* World-making is free — much like some introductory blog services, Areae only starts charging users for hosting their Metaplace world when they begin generating heavy traffic.

So by default, I'm punished for doing good work?   

[Endie]

Areae’s many revenue models
* World-making is free — much like some introductory blog services, Areae only starts charging users for hosting their Metaplace world when they begin generating heavy traffic.

So by default, I'm punished for doing good work?   

Is this supposed to be in green?  If so, heh, nice one.  If not, wtf?!?

[Simond]

If you do good work, it will be popular, which will kick it off of the free hosting and start costing the creator money until they shut it down/make it invite only/etc.

If, however, you do crappy work, you'll get less visitors so you can host as much as you like for free.

[WindupAtheist]

Making an MMO is nigh-impossible without huge piles of money, but making a mere graphical MUD could be entirely feasible for the amateur if Raph is giving us some decent tools.  I'm liking this idea better as time goes by.  I don't think it's MySpace moneyhats, but it could be... interesting.

[Endie]

If you do good work, it will be popular, which will kick it off of the free hosting and start costing the creator money until they shut it down/make it invite only/etc.

If, however, you do crappy work, you'll get less visitors so you can host as much as you like for free.

Yeah but that's like any web service: if my blog jumps an order of magnitude (let's face it, through the addition of free porn) and suddenly I'm getting hundreds of thousands of hits a year, I know fine well that I'll have to pay more for it to my service provider.  I wouldn't expect to host ebay on my free VirginMedia pages.

I don't see why it is even a concern, especially considering the level of charges likely to be involved.  I pay less for my developer-level, multi-GB traffic, multi-DB hosting than I do for my two Eve accounts every month after all.  I don't suddenly demand that my other MMO time be free.

And once you have a lot of people using your world, of course you'll pay up to keep it running.  Publishing to a willing group of consumers is addictive like gaming can't match.