A+free+MMORPG+for+Mac?!

= //Finding the Game - A Dummies Guide to Beginning - 2/2/10 // =

That's right, I'm attempting to find a completely free MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) RPG (Role Playing Game) that runs natively on Mac OS X. After 20 minutes of avid Googling I was barely any closer to downloading software. However, three consistently returned results were Runescape, Dofus, and PlaneShift. Runescape is a well known RPG that is completely contained within your browser and involves real time interaction in a 3D environment. However, it is associated with poor graphic quality and adolescents. Next. Dofus is an immersive environment which involves real time action within your surroundings. Unfortunately, it only expresses that environment in 2 dimensions. Lame. If I'm going to devote a part of my life to a software package I want to be able to slaughter through the fields of green in any direction I choose! What is this 1990's nonsense; are we playing Age of Empires?! No. Next. That left me with only one option: PlaneShift. PlaneShift is a free, open source (meaning anyone with enough know-how can develop the game on their own), 3D, immersive environment, in Beta 0.5 (which means it hasn't been officially released yet). Let's do it. Hopefully we'll make some friends, or at least have some fun.

First things first, here are my system specs; I'm running //Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6//) on a //2007 MacBook Pro// with //2 Gb of RAM//, a //2.2 Ghz Core2Duo//, and //12 Gb// of free hard disk space. Second, the install// .dmg is 453 Mb// in size and can be obtained at @http://www.planeshift.it/download.html. I meet the suggested system requirements, so with a skip and a hop I'm off to the races. After choosing the option to create an account on their Role Playing Server, I downloaded the file and now I'm ready to install.

Next, we bolt out of the gate and onto the racetrack of adventure and peril where only the speediest survive. Buena Suerte.

media type="youtube" key="feH_bpc3nHg" height="344" width="425" media type="youtube" key="lGgM2-WnF-I" height="344" width="425"

Okay, now the program is installed and we're ready to go. Watch me struggle through the character setup process as my room mate talks and clatters in the background.

The UI (user interface) was easy enough to follow, and sported some lovely artwork. A soundtrack set the mood of the game, and in all, I must say I was fairly impressed... until PlaneShift crashed. However, once I relaunched the application, all was well. It took a few moments after the game play had loaded for the software to become fully functional, and it did eat up a considerable amount of processor power, but the tutorials were ready to go.

Once again, the fullness of the UI and game experience surprised me. I have not played any other MMORPG, but I did not expect this level of commitment to the game both architecturally and aesthetically. The character building took me a while, even though it was my second time around. This was due to the extensive options and abilities available to me. It is clear that a lot of thought was put into potential back stories for in game characters' histories. This kind of depth adds to the gaming experience by its story-like qualities. It also makes each user feel unique and in total control of their character.

Once I'm trained up on Quests, Magic, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, I will report back with more observations, critiques, and insights. Play on!

= = =** //Baby Steps - Figuring out Game Play 2/4/10 // **=

Okay, so, here is the earth... now I've just got to figure out how to interact with everything in it. I started by using the arrow keys to move around, and it worked well enough. W A S D were also functional, by default. Next I followed the tutorial to see that right clicking on a character near you would yield the opportunity to interact, whether verbally or physically. I received some free money to begin the game, and even attacked a few R.O.U.S.'s (aka Rats). The tutorial is pretty straight forward, although it is mostly text based. However, if you can finding your audio settings fast enough, you can turn down/off the background music and listen to the characters speak their lines. Their accents can be a little funny, but they get the point across. I learned magic and weaponry... I'm done, get me out of here and into the real world!

One problem: as I attempt to exit the tutorial, the game crashes. Upon re-oppening it crashes again! On the third try, it loads for about 3 seconds, displaying an environment that I had not seen before... and then crashed again. Time to restart the machine and try again...

= //The 'Real World' - Making my way through the Game - 2/5/10 // =

After the previously failed attempts at entering the 'real-virtual' world of the game, I have finally made it. It is 9:45am Central Time where I am, but the game currently sports a night sky and a glowing village. I appeared in the middle of a grove of trees, sporting fallen apples, so what did I do? I'm a pack rat, so I picked up some apples. I found my way to the first glowing building and discovered a black-smithery. I talked to the only human there (who happened to be the man in charge, and he told me that if I got him some apples, he could give me some training. What a coincidence. The guide for how to give objects to a person, however, was non existent. It took repeated tries of me dropping the apples at his feet after selecting 'give', before I realized I had to talk to him and he'd automatically take them from me. Now I've got to go find some 'Tin Lumps'.

While waiting, a gothic manta ray-bat creature being ridden by a humanoid flew by, stopped, looked at me, then continued on. I can only assume that this encounter (which I failed to capture an image of) was my first sighting of another active user. Hooray! However, as time progressed, look at all the people that started showing up to this blacksmith! He must be a busy guy.

Needless to say, I will not be updating this Wiki with every single adventure (or stupid errand) the game sends me on, but I hope to convey the feel of someone who has 1) never played an MMORPG like this, and 2) how effective this game is at allowing the user to interact with the environtment.

I met one person, and introduced by self using the 'introduce yourself' function. However, it seemed to offend them that I had my sword drawn, and by the time I had removed it from my hand, they had ceased to talk to me :)

//"It's not about the money... it's about sending a message... everything burns!"

// I died. I fell to my death. Here's a picture of me dead. I 'woke up' in the death world. In order to get back to the game, I needed to 'escape' from the death world. However, as I began my excursion, I realized that you can, in fact, //die// in the death world. This complicated things. I met a monster, and he killed me. Granted I stopped to take a picture, but come on! He just walked over and took one swipe and me and ... bleahh... dead.

Thankfully I was not alone, as I re-spawned for the second time, a very attractive looking female spawned right next to me! I guess death isn't so bad. Now I've just got to find my way out of here...

//Extra Extra - PlaneShift releases updated software package//
Whooray! I haven't logged on to play PlaneShift in quite a bit, but when I got back to the program, it said that I had an update to install! I located the convenient auto-updater in the PlaneShift folder and began the process. Will be back to expand upon changes to the update.

So... I ran the updater and nothing happened. Boooo. I'm going to re-download the program and reinstall it.

**//Long Time, No Seige - Filling in the Holes 5/5/10//**
Well, it's been a while, and projects are now being turned it. I guess it's time for me to post all of my activities in between my last entry and the present.


 * Escape from the Death Realm** - More like 'escape from annoyance'. I was literally stuck here for a whole month attempting to route my way through rooms with no exits. The game designers constructed the Death Realm (the place every character goes after they die) to be a maze with no apparent exits. When I went to game forums to inquire about finding passage they just informed me I needed to follow another player out. Sounds like a great idea, actually. Too bad I didn't follow that monster-chick I ran into back in February... why do the good ones always get away on me? Anyway, I stood there and complained one afternoon, expressing my feelings into the global chat. Eventually an admin found me and asked if there was anything he could do, to which I replied, "I've been stuck in this stupid level for a month!" That's literally what I said. I felt bad a moment later, though, as they offered to send someone over right away for me to follow out. I thanked them profusely and waited. While I stood there, someone else who had died ran by me. Sure, right as I call for help, someone comes by that I could have followed. The admin's help arrived swiftly and led me along the winding road. 'Road' is a little bit of an understatement, however, as we were required to blindly jump off several balconies and overpasses and run through cracks and crevices. However, on our journey we passed many people, all seemingly more informed than I was. We cleared the level and I found myself back in the daylight of the living.

Just for the record, there is NO way I would have found my way out on my own; I most definitely needed someone to help me along.


 * Making Real Virtual Friends** - Once I had found my way to the surface, I found the area much more populated than months previous. Planeshift has a default location for all characters as a 'home space'. This is the area you exit the tutorial into, and reappear from the Death Realm into. There are many basic quests here, and it is generally respected as a peaceful and co-habitable zone.

My admin guide informed me that we had made it, asked if there was anything else I needed (I said no, but I thanked him profusely) and he ran off. People moving and talking all over the place. I wandered across the main square and happened upon 3 women in a circle. I introduced myself, "Hey ladies." I got questioned, and then laughed at, and then I was in the conversation. One of the other players had just started and another was a veteran of the game. We chatted about everything from in game etiquette to where good hang out places were. Speaking of etiquette...


 * In-Game Etiquette** - Planeshift has several features that are not incidental to the gameplay but rather help the 'role playing' aspects develop. For instance, when you meet someone, rather then simply entering text into the chat, you are supposed to click them and select 'greet'. Factors like this make the game feel larger, like the story is being written by you. Another tool in this kit is the expectance of each character to 'act' their part out as they see fit. When in dialog with someone, it is more than appropriate to speak in a phonetic accent. Each character is built with an extensive backstory in place. CG characters in the game refer to this history as the game progresses, but it is also necessary to know your background to be an effective actor to the 'living' characters. Speak like a story book. For example, here is how one of my new friends replied to a question: //Taeva// shrugs, "I don't really know, Dannae would be the one to ask." If you want to say something that is 'non-diegetic' to the character you should put it in brackets [like this]. This tells the other player that you are not playing your role at the moment but speaking to them outside of the game world.


 * Completing a Quest** - Prior to finding my group of friends, I had cantered on up to a CG character and learned that people in some district were so desperate for wax to seal their envelopes that they were ceasing to send letters altogether! Did I want to help in this crisis? Of course! Remember how I said I received this quest prior to meeting my new friends? Well I brought this job's details up to them and one of them offered to help me complete it! She gave me directions as to the general location of the wax supplier and told me they would be on a balcony. I wandered off in the general direction she had given me and found I had no idea where to go. After deciding to return and beating the trail back to my friends, I happened to run into the girl who had given me directions. She helped me to locate and retrieve the wax. Once again, if it were not for the ability to lean on veteraned players I would not have been able to find the balcony (which was far above my camera height).


 * Out of Game Experience** - As you probably noticed, I posted several videos to Youtube following my progress in learning Planeshift. Over the past few months I have gotten responses to these posts, and several hundred viewings. My post successful video has been seen 755 times to date and features this 'compelling' dialog:



Indeed, there are a lot of passionate people there, even if there passions are slightly futile in direction. :)