Captain Jack

Right. What can this org provide that the others can't?

When we get PvP, I'm coming after you first. JK. Really? You are complaining about trees in pre-alpha?

OMG! Sorry to barge in here, but another voxel game has a "creative mode"... that lets you go hog wild building whatever you want, and save the blueprints. You can then "spawn" those blueprints in survival game mode, assuming you could acquire all the resources required to build them. I found that mechanic to be crazy fun. I get the feeling it isn't new to this genre.

"Dual Universe will feature a much greater degree of interconnection." I don't even know what that means.

Perhaps you could hitch a ride aboard a freighter or something that will get you into deep space without much involvement on your part. Before you log off one night, buy a ticket, hop aboard the freighter, and log off. The next evening or the next day, log back in and see where you're at, hopefully you don't miss your stop!

I read most of this, didn't see it mentioned, but in America, imperial measurement is popular because without it, football as we know it would be impossible to figure out. Its fourth and goal on the 10.9728 meter line? It would stump just about everyone.

Ever take a friend out to dinner and a show, costs quite a bit more than a month's worth of entertainment in DU. I could easily see people buying subs for friends.

I think our hope is that DU becomes akin to a cult...club, in that everyone pays monthly dues so that the club can operate. People that hang out at the club all day and night pay the same dues as the weekenders. The subscription is less about cost per unit of game time, and more about being a member of the club. A $15 club membership fee isn't unheard of. Gym memberships are a good example. Pay the membership fee, get access to the gym. What you actually do with that membership is on the member.

^^ hardly the only downfall, and it's not just one brand or the other, the tech isn't even close to being practical yet. Rant inbound: Debbie Downer says... I'm excited for VR, but the technology still has a very long way to go before it actually gets even remotely good. Someone mentioned being able to virtually grab a virtual throttle control and virtual joystick, instead of actually grabbing a physical throttle control and joystick. Huh? VR can't provide physical feedback yet can it? I'd much rather have a physical flight stick in my hands, than nothing at all. Console makers have tried basic VR over and over again with their sports games. Pulling the virtual string of a bow was kinda silly. Aiming with a virtual bow... sucked. There was a boxing game where you punched the air, or your buddy, and it mysteriously translated into punching something on the screen. Bowling was kinda fun, but only because it was a novelty at the time. I had lots of laughs with those games but only because people would hit their heads on ceiling fans while spiking a volleyball, or trip over couches, knock over lamps, kick the dog... all manner of hysterical happenings, none of which improved the game interface, not even a little bit. And accuracy... I don't know of anything that is more accurate than a mouse click... it's better than 1 pixel perfect. The console generation has been brainwashed into thinking that game pads are good. Game pads are good for lounging on the couch, eating Cheetos, and casually playing Madden 9000 or any other game that you don't have to aim at anything. The auto-aiming assist of console games makes players "think" they're actually aiming, but the reality is, aiming accuracy with a game pad is atrocious. There are even game controllers shaped like assault rifles so as to improve accuracy and provide a true VR experience. Yeah, no, that turned out to be utter nonsense too. Pointing your assault rifle at a tv was deemed gimmicky with Duck Hunt. Which brings me back to VR. Visually speaking, it can be pretty amazing, but that isn't really VR, it's just low res 3D. Other than that though, where is the draw? Where are the practical advantages for gaming? I have to use my whole head to look around, and pray the tracking works? I get to flail my arms around hoping to trigger a simple interaction with an in game object? I have to march in place to actually move? Most VR sets that I see now come with hand held "sensors". Shocking. Right back to the game pad. TL;DR: Light years from now, when it's finally done right, the immersion factor of VR will be incredible. Right now though, it's just a really overpriced 3D headset and a couple of game pads.

I laughed.

I see where he is coming from. A pricing structure that caters to ALL gamers, is better in some respects than a structure that only caters to the majority. Offering a pay as you go metered plan, AND a subscription based unlimited plan, would be ideal for the consumer. Choices are good. Though, like someone else said, the 25 or so folks behind the curtain went with what is best for NQ and "good enough" for the consumer. It's not perfect, and maybe down the road they'll open up the options some, but at this stage, a simple and profitable payment structure is the name of the game for NQ. It won't take long for players to determine if the game is worth it for them.

This is neither here, nor there, but I wonder if we'll have beggars on the streets of our DU cities?

The argument about paying for more milk than you need makes sense, it's just that the analogy is all wrong. You can't compare paying for a product to paying for a service. Paying a subscription, for a game, entitles the gamer to as much play time as they want. It ensures that the online universe will be there, when they want to participate. Kind of like paying rent on an apartment... whether you're there or not, the cost is the same. Paying only for the time played is intriguing only for those that don't play much. Imagine paying $1/hr to play. Sounds great if you only play for a few hours a month. The folks that play a couple hundred hours a month are screwed. With a subscription, you can do the math and determine how much you need to play, in order to get your money's worth. That number will vary from person to person, but it's not like the price of admission is a secret. Odds are some months you'll hit the mark, some months you might not. In the end, the price of admission doesn't change, which is a good thing. ninja edit: I'm lazy, so I pay $1 or so for coffee each morning on my way to work. Seriously, at the end of every month, my coffee bill will be higher than my DU bill.

I am the walrus. No really, what's this about a half day thing? I knew the servers would be up and down throughout the pre-alpha phase.. but with all the time zones and such, is there a schedule somewhere so we have some idea when we should be poking around the game, and when we should be working, sleeping, eating, and waiting for another window?

I know what you meant. I was just yanking your chain. Probably a forum violation of some sort.

That was the worst analogy ever.

My one sentence comment was hardly a rant, and I certainly didn't imply that you know nothing. After reading all your detailed well written assumptions, I was about to challenge your self proclaimed status as a "developer", especially after the comment about not being able to fit all the data through the pipe that connects your computer to the game server. Since that comment has apparently drawn the ire of some, I'll just drop it. It's not my place. This is your thread and I'll leave you to it. No offense intended.

Heavens no, I was not insulting his use of grammar, nor his person. I withdraw my comment and will crawl back into the hole from which I came.

post deleted by user.

The scary part... er, one of the scary parts, is that they said it wasn't ready for the planned alpha release date. Unfortunately, this puts the game into the same crowded pool of other alpha/pre-alpha games that missed deadlines and/or released too early. It's a non confidence inspiring trend that has become the norm these days. The upside is that they were honest about their progress and are going to put it out there anyway in it's current state. It's a bold move. I'm excited to see their progress first hand, but I'm trying my best to temper my expectations. I fully expect a broken, unfinished, PRE-Alpha proof of concept that if nothing else, should give us a baseline to measure progress from here on out. Point being, not everything has to work, just enough to make it believable.

This sounds like a terrible idea, but I'm in. Has anyone given any thought to city planning? I mean, do we build the roads first, or the football stadium? Do we have to vote for the Mayor of Alpha Land, or will it be a free for all? What about laws? Since space ships might be a ways off, will we have a rail system or perhaps we should build near water. We're gonna need mules to pull the barges. Not it.

The subscription model stabilizes income for a service provider. Without it, NQ wouldn't be able to shell out millions every month for their ongoing infrastructure costs. Imagine the "pay as you go" model from a service provider perspective. They put together a massive server farm in advance, and hope you decide to play at least 60 hours a month. One week someone plays 12 hours, the next 2. The next week not at all. NQ can't rely on that income to operate. With a subscription, NQ knows how much money they have from month to month and can provide services accordingly. It's just an agreement.

As much as I love Empyrion, it is not an MMO, not even close. Still a fantastic alpha game though that gets better by the day.

"I reject your reality and substitute my own." Those billboards in Sci-Fi movies are expertly designed and placed as part of the script. They contribute to the story and lore. What you're thinking of are the lame product placement ads in TV shows and low budget movies where heroes are obviously driving a certain brand of car or drinking a certain brand of soft drink. In other words, you're paying to watch advertisements that are shoved in your face. If I pay for a product or service, and I'm forced to see advertisements, I'll stop paying. Advertisements have a place, like in hell, or on toilet paper. Not in a universe that's being created from the ground up. Hopefully we get that part right.

anyone ever hear of the Big Bang theory?