Massively Multiplayer Games For Dummies

by Jennings, Scott; Macris, Alexander

• ISBN13: 9780471752738
• ISBN10: 0471752738
• Edition: DVD
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-12-19
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

Intrigued by MMGs? Here's the place to start Compare games, create a character, choose a guild to join, and have some fun! So your friend keeps talking about playing this cool game with millions of people on the Internet, and you really want to join in? Great idea! This book will let you in on the lingo, provide a little background on MMGs, help you choose a character, and prepare you for a trip into the fantasy world. Discover how to * Choose a game you'll enjoy * Start developing a character * Survive player vs. player combat * Find useful gameplay guides * Slay more monsters * Team up with other players

Author Biography

Scott Jennings has been playing roleplaying games since 1976, when at the age of ten, during a game that had just come out called Dungeons & Dragons, he lost his first character, a 1st-level wizard, to a demon lord. He’s been complaining about poor game balance ever since.
More recently, he has been involved in the massively multiplayer gaming world in various capacities. In 1999, he posted tales of his various frustrations and amusements with Ultima Online on a Web site, which he named the Rantings of Lum the Mad after his character. Over the next three years, as the number of people who played MMGs grew, the combination of humor and commentary on Scott’s Web site proved popular, both with the players and the creators of these games.
Meanwhile, Scott’s day job as a database programmer disappeared during the dot-com crash of 2001, luckily right at the time when a new massively multiplayer game, Mythic Entertainment’s Dark Age of Camelot, needed a database programmer. It didn’t take much convincing for him to move across the country and work on hit dice and monster aggro for a living.
Four years and six expansions later, he’s still working behind the scenes of Camelot’s round table. He can’t think of a more fulfilling career than to tinker at the machinery that makes worlds tick.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xvii
Introduction	1	(1)
About This Book	1	(1)
Foolish Assumptions	2	(1)
How to Use This Book	3	(1)
What This Book Won't Tell You	4	(1)
How This Book Is Organized	5	(2)
Part I: Getting Started with MMGs	5	(1)
Part II: Your First Few Days: Going from Newbie to Pro	5	(1)
Part III: Playing Well with Others: Not Just for Elementary School Anymore	5	(1)
Part IV: From Group to Guild: Making Your Mark in the World	6	(1)
Part V: Have Fun Storming the Castle: The Endgame	6	(1)
Part VI: Where to Go from Here	6	(1)
Part VII: The Part of Tens	6	(1)
Icons Used in This Book	7	(1)
Where Do I Go from Here?	7	(2)
Part I: Getting Started with MMGs	9	(66)
Introducing Massively Multiplayer Games	11	(10)
What Is an MMG?	12	(3)
What's the Point? The Objective	15	(1)
The Things You'll Need to Play	16	(1)
``Wait a Minute! I Have to Pay Money? I Already Bought the Game!''	17	(2)
Managing Your First Milestones	19	(2)
Your first day	19	(1)
Your first week	19	(1)
Your first month	20	(1)
Finding Your Perfect World	21	(38)
Games versus Worlds: How Some Games Are Different Than Others	21	(3)
Levels versus Skills: How Some Games Are Even More Different Than Others	24	(3)
Wild Cards: Games That Are Completely Different Than Others	27	(1)
The List: MMGs Available Today	28	(31)
Fantasy MMGs	28	(8)
Science Fiction MMGs	36	(6)
Asian MMGs	42	(2)
Other MMGs	44	(3)
MMGs in your living room: Console games	47	(2)
Smaller games	49	(5)
MMGs in production	54	(5)
Making the Connection	59	(16)
Choosing between Computers and Consoles	59	(3)
Getting Online	62	(2)
Broadband versus Dialup	64	(1)
Clearing Up the View: Memory and Video	65	(6)
How much memory does the PC need?	65	(1)
What kind of video card should I use?	66	(5)
Getting Ready to Go Voice	71	(2)
Paying the Bills	73	(2)
Part II: Your First Few Days: Going from Newbie to Pro	75	(42)
Your First Day: Embracing Your Inner Newbie	77	(18)
Picking a Server: Possible Server Choices	77	(2)
Creating Your Character: Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?	79	(2)
Even Classless Games Have Classes: Archetypes	81	(1)
Understanding the Basic Character Archetypes	82	(6)
The tank: The warrior in EverQuest	83	(1)
The healer: The doctor in Star Wars Galaxies	84	(1)
The nuker: The mage in World of Warcraft	85	(1)
The hybrid: The red mage in Final Fantasy XI	86	(1)
The wild card: The bonedancer in Dark Age of Camelot	87	(1)
Choosing a Name: Why Mxyzptlk May Be a Bad Idea	88	(2)
Your First Hour: Tutorials and Newbie Yards	90	(2)
If at First You're Confused, You're Perfectly Normal	92	(3)
Your First Week: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions	95	(10)
Okay, Where Now? Moving Past the Front Gates	95	(3)
And Now You Must Bring Me . . . A Shrubbery! Quests in MMGs	98	(2)
Is This Really What I Want? Being Comfortable with Your Archetype	100	(1)
Finding Out More about Your Character: Where to Go Online	101	(1)
Dealing with Other Players	102	(1)
Hey, I'm Broke: Economy, Crafting, and You	103	(2)
Getting Help from Customer Support	105	(12)
Yelling for Help When You're Stuck: Customer Service	105	(4)
Knowing How to Say Help: Getting Results	109	(2)
I Can't Even Get to Where I Can Say Help: Technical Support	111	(3)
Using DXDiag	112	(1)
Technical Support e-mail addresses	113	(1)
The CSR Said I Can't Have This Name: Avoiding Trouble	114	(3)
Part III: Playing Well with Others: Not Just for Elementary School Anymore	117	(40)
Solo versus LFG: Why (and How) to Find Other Players	119	(12)
Ganging Up on the World: Grouping	119	(4)
Your Own Private Story: Soloing	123	(2)
Knowing When to Group and When to Solo	125	(1)
LFG: Finding a Group	126	(2)
Dark Age of Camelot: The LFG window	126	(2)
World of Warcraft: Meeting Stones	128	(1)
Other Kinds of Groups	128	(3)
There Is No ``Aieee'' in Team: Helping Your Group Survive	131	(16)
Knowing Your Role: What a Group Expects	131	(14)
Preparing your group for adventuring	134	(2)
The archetypes	136	(9)
When Things Go Horribly Wrong (and They Will)	145	(2)
Emily Post Never Wrote about the Undead: MMG Etiquette	147	(10)
Why Online Etiquette Isn't That Different from the Real World's	147	(2)
Making a Good Impression: Some Simple Rules	149	(1)
Killstealing --- Sometimes Help Isn't Helpful	150	(2)
Begging for Free Stuff: About as Popular Online as Offline	152	(1)
Understanding and Dealing with Problem Children	153	(4)
Part IV: From Group to Guild: Making Your Mark in the World	157	(30)
What Is a Guild, and What's in It for Me?	159	(12)
The Strength of Many: What Is a Guild?	159	(3)
Where Everybody Knows Your Name: Why You Want to Join a Guild	162	(1)
An Example Guild: Armyn ab Treanid	162	(9)
Finding the Right Guild for You	171	(8)
Guild Archetypes: Not Every Guild Is the Same	171	(6)
Achiever guilds: The uberguilds	172	(2)
Anonymous-invite guilds: Who are you again?	174	(1)
Cross-game guilds: Just visiting	175	(1)
Family guilds: Pull up a sword and have a seat	176	(1)
Finding Your Guild	177	(2)
Guilds in the Long Term: But I Already Have a Family!	179	(8)
Getting More Involved: Guild Leadership Roles	180	(2)
Understanding Guild Politics: Like Office Politics, Only with Funny Clothes	182	(2)
Leaving Your Family: Switching Guilds	184	(1)
When Good Guilds Go Bad	185	(2)
Part V: Have Fun Storming the Castle: The Endgame	187	(76)
What the Endgame Means: How Do I Win?	189	(8)
MMGs: Games That Never End	190	(1)
Getting to the Beginning: Why the Endgame Isn't the End of the Game	191	(1)
Exploring the Types of Endgames	192	(2)
Your Character's Reputation and Why It Matters	194	(3)
The Buck Starts Here: Being an Online Merchant	197	(24)
So You Want to Be a Millionaire? How Money and Sales Work in MMGs	198	(1)
Earning Your Stake: Ways to Quickly Earn Money as an Online Merchant	199	(1)
Beating Monsters over the Head for Their Lunch Money: Hunting	200	(2)
Picking Up Stuff off the Ground: Gathering	202	(1)
Putting Things Together to Make Other Things: Crafting	203	(2)
Setting Up Shop: Some Pointers to Better Sales	205	(16)
Naming your business/yourself	206	(2)
Location, location, location	208	(1)
Product knowledge and effective customer service	209	(1)
Inventory, stock, and cash flow management: ``Price check on orc axes, aisle 12''	210	(1)
Effective advertising: ``If you didn't buy it here, you probably looted it off a goblin''	211	(2)
Pricing: ``How much for the droid?''	213	(3)
Supplier/employee management	216	(1)
Finding niche markets: ``I am the best supplier of veterinary medicine in Mordor!''	217	(1)
Using out-of-game resource development and support	218	(1)
Service after the sale: Aftermarket sales and services	219	(1)
Developing a repeat client base (but not too much of one!)	219	(2)
Writing Yourself Into the Story: Roleplaying	221	(10)
Forsooth! What Is Roleplaying?	221	(3)
Getting in Character (and Staying There)	224	(2)
Playing Along with Others	226	(2)
There Is No One True Story	228	(1)
When the Game Works Against You	229	(2)
Slaying the Dragon: Raiding	231	(14)
What Is a Raid?	231	(5)
Getting the right mix of classes	233	(1)
Choosing a raid leader	234	(1)
Getting into position	235	(1)
Dividing up the loot	235	(1)
Always Pack a Lunch When Killing Dragons: Preparing for Raids	236	(2)
An Example Raid: Onyxia, World of Warcraft	238	(7)
The Most Dangerous Enemy: Player vs. Player	245	(18)
Is Player vs. Player Gaming for You?	246	(1)
Dying 101: How Player vs. Player Gameplay Is Unique	247	(4)
An Example Battle: The Battle of Blendrake Faste, Dark Age of Camelot	251	(12)
Part VI: Where to Go from Here	263	(22)
The Game Outside the Game: Message Boards and Web Sites	265	(12)
The Starting Point: Your Game's Home Page	265	(2)
The Basics: Web Sites, Message Boards, and How to Find Them	267	(3)
Discovering More about Your Character: Class/Archetype Message Boards	270	(2)
Discovering More about Other Characters: Server Message Boards	272	(2)
Reading Smartly: Avoiding Typical MMG Message Board Pitfalls	274	(3)
Knowing When to Say When	277	(8)
That Ball of Fire Is the Sun: Balancing Gameplay and Your Life	278	(3)
Knowing When to Quit: When Your Time with Your MMG Is Over	281	(4)
Part VII: The Part of Tens	285	(18)
Ten Things I Wish I Knew When I Played My First MMG	287	(4)
Failure Is Okay	287	(1)
There's a Command Called / assist	287	(1)
The A Key Means Attack	288	(1)
I Wish Google Existed when I Played My First MMG	288	(1)
If at First You Don't Succeed, Scale Down Your Expectations	288	(1)
If You Need Help, Ask	289	(1)
When on a Large Raid, Don't Wander Off by Yourself	289	(1)
Join a Guild	289	(1)
Humor Helps More Than You Think	289	(1)
If You're Not Having Fun, Stop Doing It!	290	(1)
Ten MMG-Related Web Sites	291	(4)
Google	291	(1)
VN Boards	291	(1)
f13.net	292	(1)
The Corporation	292	(1)
MMORPG.COM	292	(1)
Terra Nova	292	(1)
Penny Arcade	293	(1)
GuildPortal	293	(1)
Allakhazam's Magic Realm	293	(1)
Broken Toys	294	(1)
Ten Proudest Achievements in an MMG (From Selected Players)	295	(8)
Larian LeQuella: EverQuest	295	(1)
Llava: Dark Age of Camelot	296	(1)
WayAbvPar: Shadowbane	297	(1)
Pander: Ultima Online	297	(1)
Rasix: World of Warcraft	298	(1)
Prior Tuck: Ultima Online	299	(1)
Mongo: Dark Age of Camelot	299	(1)
NewGuy: Planetside	300	(1)
Bunk: Asheron's Call	301	(1)
Ogur: Ultima Online	301	(2)
Appendix: A Glossary of Newspeak: MMG Jargon	303	(16)
Index	319	(18)
What's on the DVD?	337	(4)
System Requirements	337	(1)
Using the DVD with Microsoft Windows	338	(1)
How to Use the DVD Using the Mac OS	338	(1)
What You'll Find	339	(2)
Dark Age of Camelot 14-day Free Trial	339	(1)
Shadowbane 15-day Free Trial	340	(1)
If You've Got Problems (Of the DVD Kind)	341	(1)
Customer Care	341