Paltalk sues Jagex

You might have already heard about this lawsuit. If not, full story is here (Paltalk sues a bunch of MMOG companies including Jagex for patent infringement). The patent in question is about distribution of messages within MMOGs. In this context we are not talking about clan chat or players text messages, but about ALL game messages (movements, actions etc.) between player computers, that is about the very core of MMOGs. Unfortunately, from what I can see the threat is very real and dangerous for Jagex (and subsequently to Runescape players). Yes, Paltalk is making an outrageous claim which is infuriating millions of people, but, they are not looking for respect - they are looking for money. And money they may get, just as they already got it from Microsoft in a very similar suit. On a brighter side I do hope that Jagex's motto of developing everything by themselves may help them this time (assuming their way of passing messages between player computers and servers has some unique distinction from the patent's core).

To finish it off, here is an official Jagex's statement about the matter from RSOF. So don't despair. Yet...

Hi Guys,
Just to bring you up to speed, whilst Paltalk is making as much PR capital as they can on this matter, Jagex have yet to be served with any court papers and I expect being a British company it will probably take a few months before that happens.

Jagex respect all 3rd party IP rights and prides itself on developing all of our own technology which has not only made us a leader in this space but also means we are confident having assessed their patents, that there is no merit to their claims and this is all simply the work of ambulance chasers trying to extort money from a successful games studio.

Naturally I can’t speak for Activision or Sony, but it goes without saying that we will vigorously defend ourselves against any claims and whilst it may take a number of months or possibly even years for Jagex to triumph, there is no doubt we will triumph. The accusations will not affect Jagex’s operation in any way nor stop us continuing to create the world’s best online games.

Cheers,
Mark Gerhard

Online vs Offline Games and how Jagex operates

This article is not about Runescape, but it does reveal some very interesting details about the way Jagex (and other online MMO game studios) operate and do business.

Is Runescape your first MMORPG?

Good point is raised in the new Global Runescape Herald's article: does Runescape community consist mostly of the players for whom Runescape is the first MMORPG they ever tried? Very likely. And being as good and addictive as Runescape is, no wonder many players stuck with the game for years despite more advanced graphical MMORPGs being available.

For me Runescape wasn't the first MMORPG, but before that I played textual MUDs, so Runescape was a clear winner in terms of graphics :-)

What was your experience? Have anyone here abandoned a game like WoW in favor of Runescape?

Feedback to the "Shooting Fish in a Barrell" article

A lot of good feedback to that article. I still think that ideas in the article are quite good, especially, reducing experience from low level monsters at higher levels, but nevertheless some very valid points can be found in the feedback thread.

Shooting Fish in a Barrel. "Experience farming" issue.

Yet another excellent article from Qeltar. This time published on Tip.it. It raises an issue about high level players farming combat experience on low level monsters. You all know about rock crabs, hill giants and experiments for sure. Those are just a few examples. I agree with the article that the current system does not encourage high level players to fight difficult monsters and often leads to situation when lower levels have hard time training because "all rock crabs are taken at the moment". I am somewhat guilty myself by not fighting dragons or bosses as much as my combat would indicate. Two solutions proposed by Qeltar are also very valid in my opinion: areas for low levels only would be a quick and easy fix, while restructuring of the experience gaining system would be a good long term move. I remember playing a few old text based MMORPGs where players would get less exp for killing the same monsters after the player's level has increased. And it worked just fine. I wouldn't mind at all to see something like that implemented in Runescape.

How many MMOGs are out there?

A resource with a full list of MMOGs, news and podcasts. More business and developers oriented rather than gamers oriented, also not much staff about Runescape, but nevertheless I found it quite interesting and informative.

Death in Runescape

Interesting comparison of death penalties in popular MMORPGs including Runescape. I am personally fine with the current system. Death is death after all and shouldn't be taken lightly by players. The impact of death was somewhat lessened by gravestones, but still the event is highly undesirable, which is good. In my opinion it does bring necessary element of thrill to the game.

Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology

Bartle Test of Gamer Psychology is the most popular MMORPG psychology test and, because of it, probably one of the most accurate ones. If you are interested in such kind of things, take a look.

P.S. My results were quite in line with what I thought: EASK (Achiever 66.67%, Explorer 73.33%, Killer 0.00%, Socializer 60.00%)

OMG Girlz Don’t Exist on teh Intarweb!!!!1

Thanks to Jamie for the link to this article. It is indeed a sad reality of online MMORPGs, Runescape including. My take on it is somewhat similar to the position of the guild's master mentioned in the article: there is nothing wrong with being a girl and playing a MMORPG, moreover, girls should not hide their identity, instead, guys need to get used to the idea of women being equal partners in all activities (including their "sacred" MMORPGs).