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You're a Hard Habitat to Break 20 Aug, 2012 / 2 comments

A few weeks ago Eurogamer posted a comprehensive look at the world's first MMO, LucasFilm Games' Habitat, we missed it due to being preoccupied with dissecting the Star Wars: 1313 trailer. The story brings up many traits and issues that occur in MMOs to this day.

While Habitat's first economic hiccup caused the in-game currency to be diluted by a factor of five, the team still took a valuable lesson about player negotiation from the experience - one that would come in handy for Habitat's biggest event, the Dungeons of Death.

Prefaced for weeks by adverts in Habitat's user-made newspaper, The Weekly Rant, the Dungeon was supposedly a colossal maze inhabited by the Grim Reaper himself. In reality the role of the Reaper fell to a series of staffers who took turns to patrol the maze with two unique items; one for healing themselves of damage, the other for instantly killing players.

After weeks of planning the Dungeon opened and became an immediate sensation; excited players would dash through, firing in useless terror whenever the Reaper appeared and trying to map a way to victory as they went. It worked perfectly...until someone managed to kill the Reaper and take his weapon from him. Twice.

Quite a fascinating article, all in all.

Source: Eurogamer

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2 Comments

  • Avatar
    Rum Rogers on 20 Aug, 2012, 08:36…

    Shmargin

    I remember my Dads rules for me being online were to "not select anything with $ in it" because it meant he had to pay.

    Good times.


    LOL
  • Avatar
    Shmargin on 20 Aug, 2012, 02:03…
    As an almost exclusive MMO gamer, that was a really awesome read. Makes me wish I had been born a few years younger so I could have played it.

    I played Mad Maze on the Prodigy service instead around 89 or 90 or so. I could barely read at that point in my life and I remember my Dads rules for me being online were to "not select anything with $ in it" because it meant he had to pay.

    Good times.

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