As a regular participant and observer of the MMO Anthropology live stream on Friday and Saturdays I figured that I could write up my notes of the events that transpire during them. This weekend, the group played two different MMO games: NEStalgia and Minecraft. The game of NEStalgia is a strange 8-bit MMO that had altogether about 25-30 total online at the same time; and Minecraft is a well-known creative sandbox virtual world.
NEStalgia:
I played a Cleric, Arienne went with a Ranger, and Nelson played a Wizard. Much fine was had by wall in the region of Balzakia (with a lot of terrible jokes involved.) NEStalgia is a weird little 8-bit MMO and we didn't see many other players, except those invited to watch the stream, but we did manage a few quests together.
It feels a lot like old Dragon Warrior, right down to the 8-bit music and the way that combat works. Arienne's ranger Nirrti would strike with electrical zaps; and Nelson had multi-target spells that swirled around them with gusts of wind; whereas I usually tossed green sparkles at party members to keep them healthy and happy. All low level stuff, but still an interesting experience.
The largest issue is that party size was limited to 3 at a time.
We did manage to get wiped out as a party once or twice -- although I am a support cleric I couldn't manage to keep everyone healed against insurmountable odds. We had a few viewers state that they'd be interested in the game in the future.
GameOgre NEStalgia review, http://www.gameogre.com/mmoblog/nestalgia-review
Minecraft Saturday:
The previous village of Devil's Crossroads has been expanded slightly, and we started to build an actual crossroad. Namely it was situated around one of Arienne Keith's (ArienneKeith) previous "beacon" towers and then roads made out of smooth stone and stone brick were constructed to lead out in four directions. One of those directions went far away from the major colonies on the server so we decided to proceed that way.
Two new users joined the call to talk about their experiences Jay (JChristFollower) and TheKingofAllPie (who joined us in the previous Saturday to do work in Minecraft, an astute and effective builder-of-things.) During the stream he showed off a house he built near the Devil’s Crossroads, a structure that included a chimney with a lit fire (and redstone apparatus to extinguish/light it.)
Nelson Williams (Omnicynic) led a scouting party across a vast ocean and road builders followed—an extremely long bridge, potentially about one thousand (1,000) blocks in length, was formed to cross that ocean. Arienne followed behind the builders and constructed a railway for fast travel across; donkeys and horses were used to deliver supplies across the bridge as well until it was finally (partially) completed to give access to the new continent.
Eventually a new continent was discovered and in the last half of the stream we began to colonize. There are now four/five houses on that beach and now it's slowly being tamed. TJ (rkou1) built a house that descended one level into the ocean with lots of glass involved. William McCormick (ComputerPimp) made a two-story house and although he was very tired stayed with the group for the full four hours.
Cynicman (Cynicman) joined us on the surface in an uncommon appearance above ground and assisted with the delivery of cobblestone and smooth stone for the construction of roads and bridges. Dracul Dragon (Dracul6) assisted with general road construction and spoke with lively gusto on the call.
Rocknroll (rocknroll) was unable to join due to computer problems.
Recent GameOgre Minecraft news, http://www.gameogre.com/mmoblog/minecraft-patch-1-6-arrives-theres-horses-in-it
