PMOG- The discovery and the review.
May. 14th, 2008 08:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winneganfakeSo, despite yesterday's misgivings, I decided to download, install, and run the PMOG last night.
.... And to be honest, I actually wasn't disappointed in the slightest!
So, how was it? not bad- don't get it if you're looking for some deep, immersive experience or anything- it's definitely not that kind of game. But if you want something as a bit of an enhancement/distraction from the daily internet grind? Grab it.
Playing the game- it was interesting. I'd be going to a site I'd been to a hundred times before, only to find new and interesting stuff there- not actually on the site itself, but the extra bits put in by other PMOG players. DeviantArt suddenly had portals branching off to all sorts of other artists on the web. Taking one of those portals, I quickly found even more content- a sidequest that had me browsing through historical sites on Lovecraft, Derleth, and their ilk.
At the same time, RPG.net, while offering up a few quests of its own, bristled at me. One click, and suddenly my entire screen was shaking- I'd triggered a mine set by another player on the site, costing me some precious datapoints. I quickly donned protective armor, dispatched a St. Nick (basically, a blocker- prevents a person from laying down a mine.) after the offending minelayer... and then set a few traps of my own, for the next time someone wandered into the wrong thread.
Setting aside my own personal war for the moment, I cruised back over to the PMOG website, to discover that I'd already become a level three player. It was, however, time for me to make some content of my own- I went to work creating my first mission ever. Pretty easy stuff- find the URLs you want the players to visit, and set them up, in order, writing your own descriptions for the guideposts that will take players from one step to the next on their mission. At it's basic level, it's like giving someone a guided tour of a small chunk of the internet. Think marketing tool, among other things.
My concerns about farming and the like were pretty much unfounded- while there's people doing it, it doesn't have much of an effect on the game for anyone else- all the extra datapoints are useful for is purchasing extra tools in the shop. Even leveling requires a certain level of interaction and content creation beyond simply acquiring datapoints, so it's not like they can even use what they're farming for anything much- they still have to play the game itself.
After finishing and publishing my own mission, I took a look at the mission console, and decided to go on a few other missions. Choosing from the menu was easy- you can filter missions by their rating (ratings are only determined by the players who've actually taken the mission beforehand. While an aspiring Path-maker could get rating-griefed by someone, other ratings would make up for it pretty quickly.), their work-safeness, date created, or by association (associations work like player classes, only they're determined by your activities as you climb through the first five levels.) Three missions later, and it was time to take a break... and realize that I'd been having a blast for the last two- almost three hours. So much for productivity around the apartment. But it was definitely a fund distraction online, without the serious involvement of an actual game. besides, I was still able to catch up on email and the like- that's a huge improvement on its own!
The software itself still has some issues- refresh time on the little toolbar is a bit slow, which means PMOG operations get slowed down sometimes- this doesn't seem to have much effect on the actual webpages you're visiting though, so at least it doesn't impair browser function. It also doesn't work well with Adblock Plus, so if you want to play, you'll need to disable that plugin, if you've got it. Firefox still functions fine with both plugins running, but you can't lay down mines, or portals, or lightposts, or anything on any site other than PMOG.com.
Ultimate review? Until it becomes a truly bad distraction, or it gets taken over with sponsored marketing, etc, I'm keeping it. It's both fun and diverting. So, should any of you join up, feel free to drop me a line, in-game, add me to your allies list, etc.
.... And to be honest, I actually wasn't disappointed in the slightest!
So, how was it? not bad- don't get it if you're looking for some deep, immersive experience or anything- it's definitely not that kind of game. But if you want something as a bit of an enhancement/distraction from the daily internet grind? Grab it.
Playing the game- it was interesting. I'd be going to a site I'd been to a hundred times before, only to find new and interesting stuff there- not actually on the site itself, but the extra bits put in by other PMOG players. DeviantArt suddenly had portals branching off to all sorts of other artists on the web. Taking one of those portals, I quickly found even more content- a sidequest that had me browsing through historical sites on Lovecraft, Derleth, and their ilk.
At the same time, RPG.net, while offering up a few quests of its own, bristled at me. One click, and suddenly my entire screen was shaking- I'd triggered a mine set by another player on the site, costing me some precious datapoints. I quickly donned protective armor, dispatched a St. Nick (basically, a blocker- prevents a person from laying down a mine.) after the offending minelayer... and then set a few traps of my own, for the next time someone wandered into the wrong thread.
Setting aside my own personal war for the moment, I cruised back over to the PMOG website, to discover that I'd already become a level three player. It was, however, time for me to make some content of my own- I went to work creating my first mission ever. Pretty easy stuff- find the URLs you want the players to visit, and set them up, in order, writing your own descriptions for the guideposts that will take players from one step to the next on their mission. At it's basic level, it's like giving someone a guided tour of a small chunk of the internet. Think marketing tool, among other things.
My concerns about farming and the like were pretty much unfounded- while there's people doing it, it doesn't have much of an effect on the game for anyone else- all the extra datapoints are useful for is purchasing extra tools in the shop. Even leveling requires a certain level of interaction and content creation beyond simply acquiring datapoints, so it's not like they can even use what they're farming for anything much- they still have to play the game itself.
After finishing and publishing my own mission, I took a look at the mission console, and decided to go on a few other missions. Choosing from the menu was easy- you can filter missions by their rating (ratings are only determined by the players who've actually taken the mission beforehand. While an aspiring Path-maker could get rating-griefed by someone, other ratings would make up for it pretty quickly.), their work-safeness, date created, or by association (associations work like player classes, only they're determined by your activities as you climb through the first five levels.) Three missions later, and it was time to take a break... and realize that I'd been having a blast for the last two- almost three hours. So much for productivity around the apartment. But it was definitely a fund distraction online, without the serious involvement of an actual game. besides, I was still able to catch up on email and the like- that's a huge improvement on its own!
The software itself still has some issues- refresh time on the little toolbar is a bit slow, which means PMOG operations get slowed down sometimes- this doesn't seem to have much effect on the actual webpages you're visiting though, so at least it doesn't impair browser function. It also doesn't work well with Adblock Plus, so if you want to play, you'll need to disable that plugin, if you've got it. Firefox still functions fine with both plugins running, but you can't lay down mines, or portals, or lightposts, or anything on any site other than PMOG.com.
Ultimate review? Until it becomes a truly bad distraction, or it gets taken over with sponsored marketing, etc, I'm keeping it. It's both fun and diverting. So, should any of you join up, feel free to drop me a line, in-game, add me to your allies list, etc.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-14 11:18 pm (UTC)I gave in to peer pressure and downloaded it, but it only works with FF, and until they fix the awful horrible nasty terrible GUI (and other) issues with Mac FF i just can't handle a browser that crashes 10-20 times daily. Camino is so stable, fast, and performs flawlessly, i just can't justify the constant crashing.
And so no PMOG for me.
Except hearing all my friends rave about it :|
I should make you friend all of them :D
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-15 02:51 am (UTC)