MMO Update (Final Fantasy XI, Star Wars Galaxies, EVE Online)

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I came across three great stories today, and they all happened to be about MMO’s, so I thought I’d conglomerate them here into a massively multiplayer sampler dish of sorts.

The first article is from the Austin Game Developers Conference, where Final Fantasy XI Producer Hiromichi Tanaka and Global Online Producer Sage Sundi sat down to talk about how they solved the Gil Farming problem that has plagued their game.  Anyone who ever played Final Fantasy XI knows that one of the biggest headaches about the game was its ridiculous economy, which was almost put in ruins (some would argue that it was put in ruins) by gil farmers–players who were being paid sweatshop-esque salaries to play 10-18 hours a day and gather up as much gold and rare items as they can, only to turn it over to the company, which would in turn resell it to players for real currency.

The after effect of this problem was that it was nigh unto impossible for legitimate players to get the items they wanted, because the gil farmers were there 24-7, and the value of gil inflated to laughable proportions.  I remember taking a break from FFXI, and then coming back to it a few months later only to find that everything cost 2 1/2 to 3 times as much, because so much gil (the currency in FFXI) had been injected into the economy via gil farmers. 

Nevertheless, Sqaure Enix has purportedly solved the problem, and they were eager to share with other developers about how to do it in their own MMO–you can hit the link to find out how. 

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Sony Online Entertainment’s MMO with the most promise but shakiest development history, Star Wars Galaxies, is in need of a facelift.  The game, which released in 2003, has a unique player housing system that lets players build their abodes anywhere on the landscape, but as players have moved on to other games, it’s left each planet littered with abandoned buildings.  Sony’s solution?  Blow it all up!  That’s right, SOE recently allowed gamers to hop into the cockpit of TIE Fighters and bomb buildings that had been marked as condemned into rubble.  In return, the players received points that they could use to buy special items and furniture for their own dwelling in game. 

The best part is, SOE also teamed up with the Austin branch of Habitat for Humanity, and promised that for every virtual home destroyed, it would donate an undisclosed amount towards the building of an actual home in Austin.  Kudos to you, SOE.

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Lastly (but not leastly? ), EVE Online is actually getting a face lift after four years out to market.  The Sci-Fi MMO’s new engine gives it a major graphical overhaul which really helps its look and feel.  My two friends have been trying to get me to play EVE for a few months, and they took me over to the White Wolf booth at PAX, where they were showing off the new engine, which I have to admit looked stellar.  I couldn’t believe they were the graphics from a four year old game.  Now I know–it’s an update!

To allay any fears from their clients, EVE is allowing players to choose which Engine they wish to view the game with, so that an upgrade to your PC isn’t required.  But looking at some of the screens in the piece, I’d say it would be well worth it.