Emulators - Bringing Back the Past or Destroying our Future?

Now I know many of you who are reading this right now are like myself - you grew up with games on the intelivision, atari, 3DO, nintendo, and things of that nature. And much like myself, you would love and relish in the chance to relive some of those childhood memories by playing Tank Defender or Zelda once again. For most of us we cannot, and have to resort to the process of emulation and play them on our PC if we really want to.

But what if one of your all time favorite video games that is currently on the market is on a "private server" and you can play for free and get all of the awesome goodies without any of the "work" involved with getting them? Do you still play it, or do you step aside and play the real deal?

Many people in the MMO world have succumb to the the fact that they would rather play the free version of a game and do ZERO work for many of the items and goodies a game has to offer!

Let's take World of Warcraft for example. This game has had many different types of emulators in the past, and many of them have been shut down. Most of them due to "illegal funds transfers" to the hosting sites in the form of donations for "play to win items". In most cases Blizzard has come up on top in court and (as I stated above) many were forced to shut down and close their doors.

How about another example - The Star Wars Galaxies Emulator (aka SWG Emu). Yes, SWG is and was a fan favorite by many, but does it require an emulator to some very old and for that matter - out dated and dead code files that these tech heads have acquired illegally through the use of packet sniffers and many self made reverse engineering tools? I personally do not believe so. Aside from that the website has avoid prosecution from SOE / LA various times, and to top it of has had much of their donation money taken, stolen, or used by many of the people on board with the project for various "personal expenses".

With the launch date of SW:ToR on the horizon, and other games like Guild Wars 2 - will these games come under fire by the various "pirating" groups out there on the net? I hope not.

For many of us these games are a safe place to play and build friendships and acquire a strong sense of community within our chosen game. What many of these "emu" servers do is take from that community so that they can build their own due to someone else's achievements and glory.

Yes, my stance on the subject matter is somewhat 50/50 - but I do not wish for a game that I pay a set fee for every month to be turned away by thousands if not millions of players just because there is a cheaper (free) alternative on the internet. Most of the time this is how many of the great games of our time often get sour or bad reviews - due to players playing on free servers and not liking what that community has implemented and never actually playing the real game for what it is worth.

I generally see these "servers" (if you can call them that) as a problematic feature that is out there on the internet these days. If you want to "make money" (or donations as you emu people call them) - go and create your own video game, and not steal it from someone else and use the word "donation" to back up the fact that you are STEALING money from innocent people who are too dumb to see through your lies.

I know this is a sour topic on my blog - one of which I really should not be venting over. I just hope in the future that there will be a higher level of security features set in place for many of the great games of our time so many of the "criminals" out there cannot and do not take away from OUR gameplay as well as that of others.

I think I have spoken enough on this topic - so I shall see you all next time!

Cheers :)

./save

SW:ToR - Hit and Miss with Pre-Order Items?

Over the years I have pre-ordered many games that have come onto the market and many of the items have ranged from the awesome to the very bleak and bland. This week though for ToR's Fan Friday they had released the specifics and details on what all of these items are and do in game, and I must say - I am not one bit impressed at all. Though if I would have paid $150 for the extravagant Collector's Edition I may have felt a slight bit better about what I was getting. So here is the break down.

First off, the Color Stone - everyone had speculated that it COULD or even WOULD change your lightsaber color to any color you had wished. On the contrary, it does not - it is simply a yellow crystal with a BLACK outer hue (Whoopdy Freaking Doo).

The STAP on the other hand from the the Digital Deluxe Edition (which I was possibly going to upgrade to), also seems like some what of a loser now as you can get your vehicle at level 25. The only major difference from the DDE vehicle and the Standard from what is posted on the ToR webpage is the "skin details", but the speeds and design are all the same. So really, what would be the point of me to upgrade to the DDE at this point in time if it is just a matter of a skin overly to make it look shiny and fancy?

Now the Major Gift - The Collector's Edition Store. This is a place where you can go (apparently only accessible to those with the CE) to buy special outfits and gear for your characters and companions that no one else in the game world will have access to. This will in my eyes lead to the ultimate case of elitism in ToR like so many other games right from day one! Which could lead to the untimely fall of The Old Republic if the "normie" player base does not have access to some form of a store of their own to get things for credits so the the people with the CE do not "segregate" them and start to troll them with their "e-peen gear".

I know many of you may believe this to be untrue for the most part, but this is what I see happening in a quick matter as the is how many in game communities react to such situations of "favoritism" to one group (such as those who have dished out the most cash, i.e. those with the Collector's Edition of the game). For BioWare to do this, it simply says they are in it for the cash and not around for the players who just want to chill and hang out (does anyone see a pairing here much like SOE/LA like before? (seeing as good old Julio Torres is on the Board for this game as well, it makes sense)).

At the end of the day - they just need to keep things equal for all players to keep them in the world of Star Wars and playing. If not it could easily lead to the games utter demise much like other games in the past that had a somewhat good launch day and then dwindled off just as fast (take a look at Tabula Rasa for an example). I personally believe keeping players happy and with all the same perks and benefits would be the best way to go - especially in the early stages of the game, after the fan base has been established, do as you will - but this early on, when the game isn't even released (like 9 weeks to go) it seems like it could hinder the game quite easily.

--------------------------------------
Source: Star Wars: The Old Republic - Official Site
http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20111021