The Daily Grind: Do you buy lifetime memberships?

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Lord of the Rings Online, Business models, New titles, The Matrix Online, Tabula Rasa, Star Trek Online, The Daily Grind, Casual, Champions Online

The Daily Grind: Do you buy lifetime memberships? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: When MMOs die

Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, Endgame, The Matrix Online, Tabula Rasa, The Daily Grind, Virtual worlds

It's a sad thing when an MMO gets switched off and all our hard played toons go to the great virtual world in the sky. This week it was the turn of The Matrix Online. It's rare for the better known MMOs, like Tabula Rasa, to go out with a bang. For most games, their death throes are just a whimper as they fade into obscurity. Big or small, when a game closes it's doors, it's an event which will being a tear to some players, even if most might have already gone to pastures new.

How do you cope when an MMO, specifically your MMO, dies? Imagine for a second, you've invested thousands of hours in characters, amassed a fortune in gold -- or whatever currency is hip right now -- and conquered the world literally. Personally, I firmly believe MMOs are not just about the world you exist in but also the people you play with. So, if you played The Matrix Online or Tabula Rasa, did you and your guild pick another game to try? Has game death prompted you to meet up in real life? Did you quit the moment the announcement of plug pulling came down from on high or were you there when the skies lightened and the end came? Tell us in the usual way by dropping your thoughts in the box below.

The Daily Grind: When MMOs die originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Richard Garriott blasts NCsoft with $24 million lawsuit

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Tabula Rasa, Legal

When Tabula Rasa shut down in January, we thought we'd heard the last of NCsoft and Richard Garriott in the same sentence. Oh, how wrong we were. Yesterday, Kotaku broke the news that Garriott was suing his old pals at NCsoft to the tune of $24 million for fraud, and generally being a bunch of fetid arsebiscuits. Details were decidedly skimpy, however - why would Garriott go after the company so long after his departure? What had gone rotten in the state of Denmark?

This morning, GamePolitics added their .02 to the mix and upped the ante with the legal documents involved - and boy, are they illuminating. According to Richard's side of the story, it goes like this: Richard & co form Destination Games, and are bought out by NCsoft in exchange for some very hefty stock options. After Tabula Rasa launches, Richard gets tapped for a space flight he signed up for some years prior. After talking to NCsoft higher-ups, he is approved for, and goes on, extended leave to take his space flight. During this time, he continues doing PR for Tabula Rasa, including Operation Immortality. Flight (and PR stunt) successful, Richard touches down to Earth, goes into quarantine in Russia, and NCsoft calls him to drop the hammer - while he's stuck in Russia, decontaminating. No choice, no warning, nothing. "So long, and thanks for all the Bane."

Continue reading Richard Garriott blasts NCsoft with $24 million lawsuit

Richard Garriott blasts NCsoft with $24 million lawsuit originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 May 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: A final salute

Filed under: Sci-fi, Screenshots, Tabula Rasa, One Shots

One Shots: A final salute originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dismissed! The final moments of Tabula Rasa

Filed under: Sci-fi, Screenshots, Video, Culture, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, MMO industry, Tabula Rasa

Despite any glimmer of hope from fans that the game could somehow be saved, NCsoft's Tabula Rasa closed down last night in a truly epic display of community and developer involvement.

It's not often that we get to see the last second of an MMO's life, so it's important that we showcase those videos depicting the final moments. Quite a few videos have popped up already, with many more out there on YouTube. We've collected and embedded a few of the very first videos available just below the cut, courtesy of iRacerMatt, our reader Poozle, Plukh and the wonderful tribute video at WarCry. Plus, be sure to check out our visual tribute to TR through a gallery of player screenshots.

Continue reading Dismissed! The final moments of Tabula Rasa

Dismissed! The final moments of Tabula Rasa originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: A farewell to Tabula Rasa

Filed under: Culture, Events, real-world, News items, Opinion, Tabula Rasa, The Daily Grind

As this morning dawns across the world, the ranks of MMO communities are down by one. Tabula Rasa, started on the same day that Massively opened its doors, has closed down after one final, epic battle. As MMO players, just about all of us can relate as to how much it would suck to lose the game our community is in, thereby sending that community to the four corners of the gaming world. It's always a hard thing to see any MMO sunsetted.

This morning, we wanted to give those players a chance to reflect on what they loved about Tabula Rasa - the community, the graphics, the story line, the dev interaction. Also, we'd love to hear what your plans are now; other AFS alumni may decide to join you in new gaming pastures! Will there be another MMO, or are you off to play games like Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead?

The Daily Grind: A farewell to Tabula Rasa originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: A final, brave fight

Filed under: Sci-fi, Screenshots, Tabula Rasa, One Shots

As the brave men and women of the AFS gather together for the final assault on the Bane tonight, many may wonder what the battle might look like. We were lucky enough to get in this awesome screenshot of Tabula Rasa from Adelbern on the (former) Pegasus server that might help folks to get an idea of what a small portion of the coming final battle may taste like. Adelbern writes: When you're the last man standing and the Bane are able to take back a control point, there's only one thing left to do: RUN! This screenshot was taken at River Base Krimm in Foreas' Palisades map.

If you're one of the people who will be playing on this final day of Tabula Rasa, please snap some screenshots for One Shots and send them in to us once the battles are finished? We'd love to have your screenshots and stories for a send-off, but we'll only be able to do it if you take them and send them in! Just email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, group, and a note about your experiences, funny TR stories, etc. We'll post them out here and give you the credit.

One Shots: A final, brave fight originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tabula Rasa's shutdown salute schedule

Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, MMO industry, News items, PvE, Tabula Rasa

Listen up, soldiers! We're going to post this once and only once, so I want all eyes and ears on this blog post! Do you get me!?

*Waits to hear the chorus of "We get you, sir!" coming from the computer monitor.*

We have gotten word from AFS High Command that the Bane are preparing for an all out attack against the Allied Free Sentients in Tabula Rasa. This will be the single largest troop movement that the battlefields have seen to date. This is why all soldiers are being asked to fortify all AFS bases in preparation of an attack on Saturday at 8 PM GMT for the Centarus (EU) server and again at 8 PM CST for the Hydra server.

These attacks will be lead by the infamous Neph, cousin race to the benevolent Eloh. Neph are the most intelligent commanders that the Bane has to throw against us, but we will fight them back!

The attacks are expected to last until midnight GMT and midnight CST. If we are unsuccessful with our defense, and should we be overrun, then we will make sure that their victory will cost them everything! The Penumbra Division has been ordered to ready the last resort weapon and only fire it should we still be under attack at midnight. If we're going down, we're taking them, and the server, with us!

Hoo-rah, soldiers!

Tabula Rasa's shutdown salute schedule originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One Shots: Raising a glass

Filed under: Sci-fi, Screenshots, Tabula Rasa, One Shots

Those brave soldiers of the AFS have been battling bravely against the Bane as the final days of Tabula Rasa tick to a close. Where these recruits will head next is anyone's guess, but we're glad to see a Tabula Rasa screenshot showing a little slice of life from the servers before they're gone. Today's One Shots comes to us from one AFS recruit, Kazmanchoy, who sent this in along with the following note. With the end of Tabula Rasa coming at the end of this week, there's never been a better time to head to one of TR's taverns to drown your sorrows with some fine Corman ale. The well-stocked bar seen here is in the Staal Nightclub in Crucible, on the planet Arieki.

Are you taking part in the final days of Tabula Rasa? If so, we'd love to see some of your screenshots and hear some of your thoughts on this game. Just email them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name. We'll post your pictures for everyone to see and give you the credit for reporting in from the front lines.

One Shots: Raising a glass originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tabula Rasa server merge to affect US servers only

Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, Server downtime, News items, Tabula Rasa

We've mentioned in the past that NCsoft plans to merge all four Tabula Rasa servers into one, before the final shutdown on February 28th. Their plan has changed somewhat, as only the three U.S. servers (Pegasus; Orion; Cassiopeia) will be merged into a consolidated server called Hydra.

NCsoft will perform a data capture on Monday, and it may take up to 48 hours beyond that before Hydra is active. NCsoft says, "This means that characters will appear to 'time warp' back to Monday at 12:01 AM on the new server. We do not recommend doing anything irreversible to your character after Monday's data capture, as we are not absolutely confirming the server merge at this time. We will release more details, as well as a final conformation of the server merge, early next week."

Tabula Rasa's European server, Centarus, is not being included in the server merge, and as such will have a separate 'sunset' event for European time zones.

Tabula Rasa server merge to affect US servers only originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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