by Robben_DuMarsch » Wed Oct 05, 2016 6:21 pm Jungletoe wrote:W3 Legacy Haven.
My old game forum all joined at once and we had a massive town full of 40+ noobs running around. Learning the game with a bustling town full of people was amazing. Whenever you'd log on during the day, you'd see 10-20 people walking around the village doing everyday tasks. We had no idea what we were doing, but it was great because none of us were caught up in being the best-- we just wanted to build a huge village.
Eventually it imploded when we realized the leader had no idea what he was doing and refused to feed us (we had no idea how to feed ourselves, either), so some sketchy neighbor of mine who was a veteran player (who for some reason joined us?) murdered all the leaders of the town and gave my friend the key.
Really, the fun part of Haven for me was before I realized that stats were a thing and I was content just building and learning with friends and didn't care about grinding or raiding or protection.
A lot of truth here.
My most profound gaming experience was probably one of the major battles in Anarchy Online, leading my clan and fighting for land control back in 2002... when I was 11. It was an entirely new element for me - Not because Anarchy Online c. 2002 was an extraordinary (or even particularly good) game.
That said, MMOs were different back then because information about gameplay mechanics weren't neatly documented in wikis or tutorials. You learned through word of mouth and personal experience.
W8 Haven was a nice flashback, and it came close. With so much new and unknown we had to reinvent the meta ourselves. Fighting animals for the first time was even exhilerating as we learned combat. Teaching our militia how to kill. Actually killing other players for the first time to protect our fledgling city. The slog as we gained knowledge of core mechanics and established our industry and infrastructure.
The feeling of wonderment and discovery is not so long lived when everyone knows everything about the game.
Alas, solving that problem would be akin to creating the solution to world peace - It strikes close to the innate nature of humanity.
