So first
and foremost it seems that the auto post system ate my originally planned post… But what do one
do.
I sat today
and browsed the regular forums and I came across an article posted as a reply to
rumors that CCP was picking up third person shooter All Points Bulletin:
Reloaded. The article is the closest to someone going on record of how CCP´s
World of Darkness went from the one to bring balance to the force to a fading
shade and finally exorcised. Now the rumor itself does make some sense in the
circles who miss World of Darkness and actually know about APB:R as both are
set in our “now” and APB:R feature a deep customization system for both
characters and equipment. Something that most people expected from WoD too.
Now while
the rumor itself was squashed in said reply I also liked an article with a
purposed inside source from the Atlanta studio that was doing the development
on World of Darkness. It is a very sad read and as a log time game master/LARP coordinator
and played in said setting I was so very hopeful for a Eve style game that
would let me lift my old character in to glorious 3D. But it was not to be and
a long list of good intentions and bad decisions make it painfully clear that
the game did not have much of a chance to begin with.
But in case
you are unfamiliar with what White Wolf´s World of Darkness is, it is a setting
in the punk/goth modern horror genre where all manners of mystical beings such
as werewolves, vampires and mages move behind the scenes of everyday life.
Fighting their own war of survival and dominance. The most famous of the lot is
the game Vampire: the Masquerade that not unexpected deals with… Well… Vampires
and the society they have spun around them self to cope with eternal life as a
twisted reflection of the humans they once were. If you have read or watched “Interview with a vampire.”
You would get a fair idea of style and feel of the setting. Vampire the masquerade
was also going to be the main focus for the game at release even if many fans
hoped that more factions would come in over time.
So getting
back to the story itself it came down to a delightful mix of hubris, passion
and piss poor management. Not only did the WoD dev team have their members
poached to fill out the dev team for at first EvE and later on the horrid mess
that was DUST. This it would seem, if this source is to be believed was due to
CCP aiming to always push one step beyond what they actually was capable of.
Much due to how EvE ended up in a position of David having taken down the
Goliath of big name online games. Now this is in its own right not wrong when
you are dealing with a creative process. Without a certain amount of hubris you
never get anywhere. Heck I myself do have a philosophy that if one is going to fail,
one might as well fail spectacularly. That way one is at least remembered once
the dust settles. Noting is as sad as failing and then just become forgotten. So
in a way I have to tip my hat to them.
What piss
me off is of course that the dragged one of my favorite IP´s with them down. I
did not care much for when they flopped Dust... A as ambitious game that was going
to break new ground with the interconnected gameplay between it and its “parent”
game EvE, not only a new take on porting a IP to the console but also a new way
of connecting players that we start to see first now with games such as The
Division and others that connect mobile and console elements. Now that is not
to say I bought the entire insanity that was the brief for WoD. Not only was it
going to be set in the old world of darkness, the world that existed before the
IP wide world reset that saw the world end literally. After this event a new
setting was released and had by the time the game was being tested gained a
fair amount of traction. But the game was also going to have a very big and
detailed world and a fully player driven political system that would
interconnect social media and perhaps even mobile devices. It would also be up
to the ruling player to set the laws in their area, as per lore. There was also
going to be “perma death” that is to say that a character killed is erased or
has to start over from zero. Now this was going to be reserved for people committing
the worst of crimes such as attacking and trying to kill other players or
exposing to humans that vampires do in fact exists.
As I said
there was no lack of ambition and while I assumed it was a case of aim for the
stars and hope to land in the treetops, it was hard not to get swept up in the possibilities.
Now of course any sane person see a few problems here, first and foremost it is
one thing to build a galaxy for players to lord over, especially when planets
and space station is barely more than window dressing. It is an entirely
different thing to build a dozen or so cities for players to interact with. Not
to mention filling said places with content that not only makes sense but also dynamically
reacts to what the player does. It was not a big shock when the game faced
delays and then in the end cancelation.
It does
also lift something else that is not spoken of very often and that is that, by
the sound of it that the gaming industry have the turnover rate close to my old
job as a customer service representative. People simply get grinded down and
either discarded when they cannot deliver or get smart and hit the road before
they reach that stage. Now seeing how game development is a field that has a
strong pull on young and inexperienced people it is a disaster in the making. Now
a more cynical person would perhaps say that it is a valuable lesson for young
people, but if it is anything like working in telemarketing or CSR is… I do not
wish that on the most silver spooned of brats. Not only because that sort of harsh
awakening usually breeds resentment but also because I feel that someone going
in to a creative field should not be faced by only soul crushing fuckery.
Any way… I
still wait for the time when CCP end up in enough of an economic dire strait
that they have to sell the license to make a game based on WoD to another
company. Hope as they say is the last that leave a human, often fighting all
the way with fecal matter.
Here is a link to the Guardian article in question that sparked tonight's train of thoughts.
And the only trailer ever released...
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