Excellent use of the word trollop.

And remember that EVE is mind numbingly "Real Time" ( boring) and overly complicated.

ARRGG! foiled again.

where's the mac love??

how about an article/list of mmorpg's that are mac compatible?

Forget monetary costs, how about cost in personal "time" for these online games? I have several friends who offered to spot me the fees on several online game systems, but I can never play because I can not find the time to block out to sit and play any long enough to be worthwhile.

I guess that's the drawback to actually having a life.

@steven522: Personally? I consider doing what you like to do "living life". For some folks, maybe that's climbing a mountain. For others, reaching level 60 in an MMORPG. Sorry, but I see a lot of "get a life" type comments from folks when speaking about games and generally there is an air of superiority displayed that is irksome to me. If I misunderstood, I apologize in advance.

If they ever combined this and exSteel together, my life would be ruined*. They could even call it Macross, too!

*Wait, my life wil lbe ruined the day Warhammer 40.000k MMO comes online...

@X: The Eliminator

MMORPGs' that are Mac compatible... no such animal...

Tell Apple that they need some market share for that to happen ( like allowing clone PCs to exist )

@What is a man?: These are the same people who say "I don't even own a t.v."

Self important twits!

"Playing Warhammer, naaaaaaaa... barbarians"

(Ma the sheeps voice from Babe) lol

@What is a man?: Probably a little of both sides of the coin. I enjoy games. I have games loaded on my cell, I have a Gameboy Advanced with a few RPG style games to play, and I carry around a thumb drive with Dosbox and old games like Wizardry loaded. I enjoy long-term-commitment games, but I have to run it in short bursts where I can save/restart when needed.

I look at people that settle in for a 6 hour marathon of online gaming with other gamers that are ready to commit the same kind of time frame and I just shake my head uncomprehendingly. I just do not have the capability to understand it.

I am personally pretty excited about the upcoming Conan MMORPG, though it's utterly non-sci-fi. Not sure if my current rig can handle it though.

Also, word on the City of Heroes forums is that CoH runs pretty well with bootcamp, even on 1st gen macbooks.

@steven522

The line between what used to be called "having a life" and "not having a life" is currently blurring together and will eventually go in many more directions that.

Everybody is entitled to doing something different with their spare time, I don't believe theres ever been a time in history where everyone was forced to do the same things in their spare time ever.

And in our new more computerized lives what we do in our spare time will continue to change greatly.

And since our economy is controlled by the major oil companies, then expect more people to use their spare time at home where the cost is low.

And what will they be doing? watching movies or favorite shows ad playing games both online and not, and surfing the net and using social networks.

Get used to the idea that those things are the new "I have a life"

@steven522: I can see where you're coming from and kind of relate. I prefer more pick-up-and-play style games that can be enjoyed in much shorter bursts. I hadn't considered the possibilities of handheld RPGs for that, but I thank you for the idea. (On the Nintendo DS, you can close the lid and the system goes on standby.) It makes me stick to more arcade-styled games. My friends, on the other hand, sit down for hours with an MMO. I can't get into it. I tried one once, but it was just a lot of leveling. This was in undergrad, and I was not interested in finishing hours of homework on my computer...then hours of gaming on my computer. My friends, however, left me in the dust on that game. It just wasn't fun for me.

I would never say that accomplishing much on these games has anything to do with not having a life or anything, especially since that statement is too harsh. You can easily not have a life AND not play those games. (Isn't the stereotype about scifi fans and bloggers that we have no lives, irregardless of gamer status?) I think it's a matter of different priorities. It's hard for me to put much focus on a longterm gaming commitment that puts me in a world full of faceless people I will never meet. I don't see the appeal.

@Ed Grabianowski: CoH is the only one I play anymore.

But what's this Conan mmorpg?

@braak:
[www.ageofconan.com]

Looks to be a far grittier (it has a mature rating) foray into the fantasy MMORPG genre than WoW.

@steven522: "Long enough to be worthwhile" is a tricky sort of standard. The problem is that two visions have become stereotypical: the total shut in and the professional WoWer.

The total shut-in, well, we'll assume it's a valid critique. The point could be argued.

Now, the professional WoWer, or for several other games, demands that if you want to play a certain sort of game, you have to, say, book several hours every day and coordinate a small army of people.

That is by no means a necessity. There are MMOs that are more geared towards casual players. In fact, there are plenty of ways to play WoW casually. You can toss only an hour or two every few days and still make it "worthwhile," especially so if supplemented with a 4-6 hour session on the weekend every other month.

The problem is not that it can't be done, but that it's rather addictive to do. You want to spend the time. And one of the insidious ways in which this is true is the in game social costs. Make a few friends in the game and you want to keep up with them, both socially and in terms of the game's context.

Now, I'll be the first to say that they tend to be huge wastes of time, but I think it works in a different fashion than the one you mentioned.

Wickedness Vigor...

perfectly describes my sexual technique... if they add "quick"

You had me at sci-fi trollop, I'll have to give it a try.

@Ed Grabianowski: Oh, nice! I believe I could get down to this sucker.

@Slatz_Grobnik: "In fact, there are plenty of ways to play WoW casually. You can toss only an hour or two every few days and still make it "worthwhile,"..."

WOW was a game they wanted me to join in on. I offered to give them as much time as I could block out for the night which would amount to maybe a half an hour. I was told to "not bother" because it would not be enough time to really get started and if I dropped out at that point it would just piss everyone else off.

Maybe its a little ADD/ADHD or something. Or maybe its a wife and kid that I would rather spend that time with...

@steven522: depending on the ages and prefereances of your wife and kid WoW can be just as social an activity as watching tv, going out to the movies, playing a pick-up-game in any particular sport, or a number of other hobbies.

characterizing games as anti-social or 'life stealing' because not everyone you want to spend time with wants to play is dissengenuous, the exact same problem exists for any other hobby.

@tetracycloide: ..."life stealing"...?

You can't swipe coins from the piggy bank if it ain't got none to begin with.

@steven522: Fair enough. I rarely spend more than an hour or so in any given game anymore myself. Hence the reason I stopped playing WoW years ago. I manage to get in a couple movies (at home) a week, so obviously I'm capable of giving up at least a 2 hour block, but I can do so much more while I'm watching something (eat, fold clothes, feed kid, talk to friends) than I can while playing.

I have Air Rivals, another that looks interesting is a china "Planetside" clone called 4591:

[www.4591.com]

@X: The Eliminator: "how about an article/list of mmorpg's that are mac compatible?"

1. World of Warcraft.
Done.

@steven522: Yeah, see, they were doing the stuff that necessitates it. It's not the way it has to be played, and some of the elements in fact encourage playing it in other, less compulsive manners.

;_; My Mac needs some lovin'.

@dOk:

>> Tell Apple that they need some market share for that to happen

Apple has plenty of market share. Remember to subtract all the office Windows machines that will never represent a game sale. Add to that how much easier it is to support Mac users (*much* fewer hardware/videocard configs). Add to that the dearth of games on Mac gives your game a better chance of standing out - as opposed to getting lost in the larger Windows games market. Add to that the possibility that Mac users spend more on media (or maybe they pirate less? Not sure) - NPD did a survey and found Mac users 3 times as likely to pay for downloadable music, Im not sure if that translates to more willing to pay for games and other software though.

If you develop a game in DirectX/Windows it isnt worth porting to Mac - (although there are windows emulation libraries, EA is using for some titles). But if you start out by using cross-platform libraries I think a case can be made to develop a Mac version profitably.

>> like allowing clone PCs to exist

It would be very nice, but wont happen. The way Apple can relentlessly push its OS forward is by only supporting a small controlled set of hardware. What makes Apple awesome is that they control the hardware and software for a great user experience. Both MacOs/Macs and iPod/iTunes/ItunesStore. What sucks about Apple is you cant build your own machines and if they dont offer a feature you want you cant get it elsewhere or build it yourself.

@Tei: Super... but, my universal translator is in the shop.

"You can download Air Rivals, create an account and play the game completely for free."
This is true
"you can spend a few bucks to buy better weapons and cosmetic upgrades, but you can also earn credits to buy those things just by completing missions."
No you can't. Credits are bought -only- for cash shop Items. The coin of the game is SPI. the only way one can buy weapons is with SPI (the gold of the game).
"The game can seem a little off-beat at times. Much of this can be chalked up to its origins with a German developer (Gameforge 4D)"
The game was not developed in Germany, it's Korean in origin, hence the odd translations and the anime "influence".
It's not "factions", it's Nations, ANI and BCU respectively. Each nation is the home to various Brigades which are analogous to clans/guilds.
Each nation is also lead by a player voted in as "President".
"You can then compete in battles that will earn points for your faction. When a faction hits a certain point threshold, the game automatically sends a massive mothership to attack the other side."
Actually each nation acquires NCP (nation contribution points)through and for the killing members of the opposing nation. At increments of 100,000 a Mothership will spawn and players for each nation will either defend or attack the MS (depending on whose MS spawned)And the MS itself -never- attacks or leaves the map in which it spawns (play the game and you'll see why)
I'm a long time player of this game (dating back to when it was called Space cowboy online and hosted by Gala-net in the US) and the person who wrote this "review" should have actually done more research and talked to the players as so much was left out.
And yes..... AR -is- better, much better, than eveonline.

I have played this game for over a year and a half, and I have to say this review does it injustice. This is not an MMORPG-it is an MMOFPS. there is grind, and skills yeah, but the entire mechanic is much more akin to an fps.

also, Gameforge is the distributor, not the developer. and anyways, who cares about the translations, its an MMO not a console rpg.

That said, there is some grind, but its extremely forgiving, and most new players aren't aware of it much until it plateau's around 70ish. there are tier'd arenas to which level makes no difference, and even a 50 something can take down a 70 something, its very much based on personal skill.

and dont let "cheap ass gamer" fool you, item shops can be a money sink :P especially when the company is based on the Euro.

but the community agrees, the tramp's voice is irritating. after the first day though it doesnt pop up often enough to bug anyone, and you can turn her off (but why would you want to?!?)