Spam Spam Spam Humbug 129.5 – The Book Betrayer
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Podcast Topic(s)
This episode begins with Sir Klaus launching into a discussion about the incorporation of multi-player elements into single-player games, which leads into a digression about how Mass Effect: Andromeda was a great game despite a few glitches, and how it deserved to do better in the market than it did (to say nothing of how it deserved a sequel).
This leads to the question of whether multi-player should be baked into single-player titles, and whether doing so gives players a bad impression about what the focus of the game actually is? It is noted that this is often how developers monetize games now, selling like loot boxes and character skins. Some developers have taken a more segregated approach, however; Harmony Dragon points out that Assassin’s Creed 4’s multi-player evidently uses a different launcher than the single-player portion of the game.
Umbrae notes that it is often hard to buy in to a game later in its life cycle, especially after lots of content packs have been released. This is a significant issue with the Games as a Service model; the game can evolve into something completely different over time, and if you come to the game later on, you may not even get to know the game as it was years prior. World of Warcraft Classic illustrates this.
The group does heap praise on some effective examples of multi-player, though; Neverwinter Nights’ multiplayer servers are praised for encouraging community and moving characters forward, while also telling a good story (and Golem Dragon praises the game’s magic system). This was the initial promise of Shroud of the Avatar, too — the promise of, essentially, a modern MUD, with significant player agency and even player-contributed content.
Of course, this promise evaporated, as did much of the game’s initial promise; the lore, and how little it is represented in the game, is remarked upon. Whatever happened to the lore point about the people of Novia being suspicious of “Outlanders” (that is: the players)? The cancelled physical copies of Blade of the Avatar/Sword of Midras are also discussed again, albeit briefly.
This is later compared against the example of Star Wars Galaxies, another game in which there wasn’t a lot in the way of developer-provided content; players were meant to create things within the game, including gear, cities and the populace thereof, services, and the like. Of course, this worked in Star Wars Galaxies; the game was designed in a way that encouraged player cooperation, interaction, and contribution.
Also discussed is the apparent bad blood between Richard Garriott and EA, which leads (naturally!) to the question of whether the Ultima IP could ever be resurrected again in some form. Could it come back not as a series, perhaps, but as an anthology of games, perhaps a set of Worlds of Ultima titles?
Withstand the Fury Dragon wonders if people are getting sick of diluted gaming experiences; could this be why games like Dark Souls, Cuphead, and others are so popular?
The discussion also returns to the topic of the Blizzard boycott, Hong Kong, and poor community management by Bilzzard. We discuss J. Allen Brack’s public statement about Hearthstone player blitzchung, and the claim that China was not a factor in the decision to punish blitzchung. And we note that Blizzard’s Chinese-language statements say otherwise. Which leads to a broader discussion of whether Chinese censorship in US games is even a surprise.
From there, we discuss censorship of games, the proliferation of the gaming market (there’s something for everyone to play these days), and we finish with a discussion of Thanksgiving traditions (because we recorded on Canadian Thanksgiving).
Community & Patronage
And, as always, this episode of Spam Spam Spam Humbug is brought to you by our Patreon backers; thank you to everyone who supports Spam Spam Spam Humbug and the Ultima Codex by that means. And, as always, a hearty thank you to our co-producers: Seth, Goldenflame, Chris, Brickbat, Dominik, Violation, Cranberry, Christopher, Bruce, Dark Wraith Dragon, Helgraf, Gronkh, Pascal, and Thorwan.
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Music
Ultima VI Gates of Creation by OC ReMix
Ultima V – Stones 2001 Remix by DJ Lizard
Actually, we mostly got the book out of our system last episode (mostly). But how can you pass up a title like that?