Hotwingz

Hello everyone.
 
For this article I had the chance to talk with Code24 about his organization Objective Driveyards.
Follow the link to get a closer look at ODY. We even have a preview of a concept ship that is currently being designed by Dalmont.
 
Oz Team. 

Hello everyone.
 
For this article I had the chance to talk with Code24 about his organization Objective Driveyards.
Follow the link to get a closer look at ODY. We even have a preview of a concept ship that is currently being designed by Dalmont.
 
Oz Team. 

Hello everyone.
 
For this article I had the chance to talk with Code24 about his organization Objective Driveyards.
Follow the link to get a closer look at ODY. We even have a preview of a concept ship that is currently being designed by Dalmont.
 
Oz Team. 

Hello everyone.
 
For this article I had the chance to talk with Code24 about his organization Objective Driveyards.
Follow the link to get a closer look at ODY. We even have a preview of a concept ship that is currently being designed by Dalmont.
 
Oz Team. 

Hello everyone.
 
For this article I had the chance to talk with Code24 about his organization Objective Driveyards.
Follow the link to get a closer look at ODY. We even have a preview of a concept ship that is currently being designed by Dalmont.
 
Oz Team. 

'
There's a new article on Oz, by DU's Alsan_Teamaro. It's his first piece and by all means, a solid entry.
@Alsan_Teamaro's article on Oz takes a look at the organisational structures in Dual Universe, with some funny puns and videos along with it. If you are thinking of building an organisation or already have one and need some tips on the mode of governance (not all leaders are dictators), Alsan's article is an insightful - if witty - piece. 
 
Head over to Oz to have a read. Who knows? You might learn a thing or two about keeping the cannon fodder in line orgaanisation members happy.  
 
Oz Team.
'

"
Congratulations to @Falstaf for the second Community Spotlight: https://www.dualthegame.com/en/news/2018/04/10/community-spotlight-2/
 
You deserve this one Falstaf, and we're as happy as you could possibly be with the interview and the spotlight. It's great to see your hard work with Oz getting limelight too!
 
Many cheers and good wishes from all of us at the HTX!
"

I think we tend to look at this question backwards.  Instead of asking if it is better for an MMO to be a sandbox or a themepark, we should ask if it is better for sandboxes and themeparks to be MMO's. 
 
A sandbox definitely needs to be an MMO.  The places people visit and the action that happens there is all created by other players.  As the video pointed out, sandboxes can not survive if they lose their population.
 
It is not clear what a themepark gains by being an MMO.  Most themeparks rely heavily on various forms of instancing to create the kind of experience players want.  Some forms are so subtle and common that we usually do not think of them as instancing.  An example would be the NPC who gives the players a quest and rewards them when they are done.  Often there will be players being sent on the quest and others being rewarded for it at the same time.  Since all the players see the NPC and the other players, this may not seem like an instance, but the NPC is having very different conversations with different players.  Everyone knows this, but each player just ignores the others, because otherwise their quest would seem ridiculous.
 
Both sandboxes and themeparks provide enjoyable experiences.  Some people prefer one kind, others like both.  However, allowing huge numbers of people to play a game together adds a lot of difficulty that developing a single player game would not have.  If the enjoyment of a themepark depends on ignoring the other players, why should it be an MMO?  Could the same experience be presented better as a single player or small party game? 

Very nice work. 
I'm sure it took some time getting that together. 

Very nice work. 
I'm sure it took some time getting that together. 

The Novean Almanac is a fan magazine about Dual Universe and the Dual Universe community.
There have been three issues in 2018 (as the Novean Dreamers Almanac) and then a long hiatus.
 
But finally...
 
Novean Almanac 4
Editorial: Making history in Dual Universe Dual Universe Development Timeline Community Media Overview Organization Updates Community Projects Overview and a shorty story by Kurock  
PDF, 168 pages, 4.4MB
 

 
Old stuff from 2018:
 
Hello there.
 
This is a magazine about the Dual Universe community.
You should read it, like all the cool kids.
 

(pdf, 2 mb)
 
Contents of issue 1: Cities, the Press and intergovernmental organizations
 

(pdf, 2 mb)
 
Contents of issue 2: War on the Battlefield & War in the Arena, Non-English-speaking communities
 

(pdf, 2 mb)
 
Contents of issue 3: Espionage and Counter-Intelligence, the Service Industry, and a stupid map
 
Website: Spaceship Drama
Discord (Agilolfing#8694)
Twitter

Just want to point out that what you are talking about is not what exploits are. 
 
In video games, an exploit is the use of a bug or glitches, game system, rates, hit boxes, speed or level design etc. by a player to their advantage in a manner not intended by the game's designers.
 
Duping items, walking through walls, abusing some weird clipping issues to gain an unfair advantage etc. Those are exploits. You are describing gameplay that you don't like/see as a potential problem. 
 
 

Just want to point out that what you are talking about is not what exploits are. 
 
In video games, an exploit is the use of a bug or glitches, game system, rates, hit boxes, speed or level design etc. by a player to their advantage in a manner not intended by the game's designers.
 
Duping items, walking through walls, abusing some weird clipping issues to gain an unfair advantage etc. Those are exploits. You are describing gameplay that you don't like/see as a potential problem. 
 
 

Thanks for the support ForlornFoe!
 
We plan to keep the content coming on a regular schedule.

'
Hello, dualism. 
 
I agree with some of your thoughts, but this the 'Arkship pub', we are not allowed the freedom of intellectual debate here. Outpost Zebra has a fully functional comment system that's meant to serve this very purpose. 
 
It will save you the time of reading there and commenting here. It will also reduce the likelihood of moderator warnings or the locking of the thread due to heated discussions. Oz is hardly moderated, because the site is meant to host a larger variety of content. It will also drive more traffic to the site: something we are very interested in achieving...think of it as a win-win  . Many thanks. 
 
Cheers.
'

Hi, thanks for the article Ben. I'd take some issue with the first quote about boredom:
 
"I have seen a number of comments by people who have pointed out aspects of Dual Universe that they consider boring.  Whether is it the length of time space travel takes, the need to mine resources manually or the limit on the weapons one person can operate, they all stress that unless these sources of boredom are eliminated, no one will want to play the game. "
 
I have mentioned travel times a bit recently, yes, but not said that the sources of boredom should be eliminated, nor taken the position that nobody will want to play. I believe that certain paths should involve investment, also of time, but this does not mean that the time spent spending time needs to be boring almost by very definition. I find it crazy that people engaged in a game end up regularly pointing their spaceship in a certain direction and going afk for 30 mins to 'avoid' the boring bit - and that's just in a 'smallish universe' where you may even be killed because you are afk, but you take the risk anyway because even taking the trash out is more 'interesting'! I did not suggest necessarily shortening the journey time, but want the devs to consider what can be usefully done in game at the same time. It could be a mini-game holodeck, crafting, permanent dangers in space which require active piloting similar to driving a car or so, doing ship upgrades, or even switching to secondary chars in game.
 
"If you are tempted to request changing some feature of Dual Universe to make it less boring, ask yourself what you want to do in the game." 
I don't want to be wasting time needlessly on repetitive stuff if I don't feel like it. Different people will be bored by different things, though, so it's going to be tricky to decide whether good immersion means it takes me 5 mins or secs to dock my ship and get to whatever shop, or my quarters, or wherever else. Generally, if you offer people short cuts, they will take them, however...

'
Ben Fargo's a prominent member of Dual Universe and his latest article is one I find quite intriguing. He explores what he conceives to be the ruin of many MMOs. On the basis of his experience with Star Wars Galaxies, Ben argues that the 'boredom' of many games results from something very simple. 
 
I found the article quite interesting and debatable. I'm sure many people stand to learn a thing or two. For you curiosity, here are some excerpts: 
 
 
 
 
 
It's an exceptional and insightful piece, as usual with Ben's deep analysis. Head over to https://bit.ly/2ufipkM and read the rest. Perhaps you won't agree with some of his thoughts. Perhaps you would. 
 
Thank you, @Ben Fargo! I look forward to seeing you soon!
 
Oz. 
 
 

'

'Oz is still active and looking for content-makers (positive sense: there's no PvP as yet).
 
Articles, non-NDA reports, fan art, fan fiction, videos and organisation propaganda are all welcome to be hosted at Oz. 
 
As promised, we'll be giving every hosted article a shout-out on Twitter. If the userbase grows, we'll expand the social media coverage to Facebook (ahem). 
 
Yama's pictures went online recently, and the majority of the content we've come across on Twitter has been given some more attention by Oz. Twitter Oz is always active, giving your organisations a second voice and your efforts for the game a little more of the attention you deserve. With a steady stream of content, Oz will never sleep.  
 
Feel free to sign up and host your content by yourself here:  
 
https://www.outpostzebra.com/ 

Our Discord channel is ever open to all, through the HTX Discord: 
 
https://discord.gg/XPj8EUc 
 
When we have higher rates of participation from the community, our dear Outpost Zebra will get her very own Discord server.
 
We look forward to hearing from you. 
 
Oz Team.
'

For Stargates the idea is that you launch a probe at a target. Once the probe reaches the target you can use that point to jump to it. Then you can construct a Stargate to link between the 2 points. 
 
It will take time to set it up but it shouldn't take years to connect 2 points. 
But everything is subject to change during development. 

For Stargates the idea is that you launch a probe at a target. Once the probe reaches the target you can use that point to jump to it. Then you can construct a Stargate to link between the 2 points. 
 
It will take time to set it up but it shouldn't take years to connect 2 points. 
But everything is subject to change during development. 

Hello everyone, in case you missed the tweet Hrafnkell Oskarsson has joined the NQ team to work on Dual Universe. His LinkedIn says his new job is Executive Producer at NQ. 
 
Some might recognize his name from EVE Online. If I understand it correctly this man was an original game designer for EVE. 
 
I think this is very exciting news for DU. 
 
 

Hello everyone, in case you missed the tweet Hrafnkell Oskarsson has joined the NQ team to work on Dual Universe. His LinkedIn says his new job is Executive Producer at NQ. 
 
Some might recognize his name from EVE Online. If I understand it correctly this man was an original game designer for EVE. 
 
I think this is very exciting news for DU. 
 
 

Hello everyone, in case you missed the tweet Hrafnkell Oskarsson has joined the NQ team to work on Dual Universe. His LinkedIn says his new job is Executive Producer at NQ. 
 
Some might recognize his name from EVE Online. If I understand it correctly this man was an original game designer for EVE. 
 
I think this is very exciting news for DU. 
 
 

Hello everyone, in case you missed the tweet Hrafnkell Oskarsson has joined the NQ team to work on Dual Universe. His LinkedIn says his new job is Executive Producer at NQ. 
 
Some might recognize his name from EVE Online. If I understand it correctly this man was an original game designer for EVE. 
 
I think this is very exciting news for DU. 
 
 

Hello everyone, in case you missed the tweet Hrafnkell Oskarsson has joined the NQ team to work on Dual Universe. His LinkedIn says his new job is Executive Producer at NQ. 
 
Some might recognize his name from EVE Online. If I understand it correctly this man was an original game designer for EVE. 
 
I think this is very exciting news for DU.