First let me state clearly, I am somewhat biased when it comes to WOTC. I miss TSR I will always miss TSR. The D&D manuals they produced had elements of fun in them. WOTC made them far too businesslike and serious. They took a lot of the Roleplay out of RPG in my opinion and made it nothing more than statistics and numbers for many. Luckily most players of the table top games ignore that and put it back in. But when it comes to the RPG genre on stand alone games that is all most can do. Rill the dice (or the randomizer) and go from there.

I loved the old Westwood studio games for TSR. So when the Baldur's Gate series began to be published, I was excited. Except the PC versions hated my machine. So I sighed an watched enviously from the sidelines as others played. When we got a Game cube a number of years back, one of the first games I got for myself was Dark Alliance.

First let me state I am an old gamer to me that means lots of saves and many versions of the same game at possible branch points so I can go back and take the other path in case I am missing something. Baldur's gate required a huge amount of space to save, around 30 blocks. so much for multiple copies on one memory card - at least not as any as I like.

So I made my first character. I took the human archer. Bad choice for me it turns out. The isometric view is a pain when targeting enemies within your range but off the viewing screen. Yes you get a trajectory line (and your arrows do NOT arc as they would IRL) But what use is a line when you cannot tell where the target is? Luckily the character is competent with a sword as well so that is a plus.

I made it through the first part of the in town game then I hit the part that has been described as 'It sucketh mightily'. A series of dropping platforms, the last set kept beating me. I spent ages trying to cross that, then gave it up for other games. But every once in a while I would return to that spot and try again. I found cheat codes that would get me past that spot, but I REALLY hate doing that so I kept trying. Finally about ready to give up and cheat I challenged my daughter.

I am almost embarrassed to write this, but it shows what lateral thinking can do. She tried it. She failed. She tried again and failed. Then she did what I should have thought of from the get go. She remapped the controller so that A was my jump. She made it across and still harasses me about it.

So on I go. The story is pretty standard, except I run into the beholder boss that anyone can figure is coming from the first scene in the tavern, much sooner than I expected. My daughter is watching as I run panicked around the room, certain I am about to die from the a spell at any moment. Then I decide, what the hell, go into berserker mode and as she says flailed to a win. I was shocked. When she asked what I was worried about I yanked out the old TSR book and had her look up the Beholder entry. She was equally incredulous that I won first time and with no deaths.

From there you go off to discover what exactly is rotten in the state of Faerun. It proceeds much like a normal crawler. But then I hit the problem. I don't know if the cube is dying or if there is a problem with the disk, but I started getting system errors. At first it was as a new area loaded. I suspected the Cube. It is old. But then it died in the middle of a level with nothing in particular happening. Then again in a boss battle, then again in the same battle. Maybe a disk problem? I researched on the NET, nothing about an issue that I could find. The error occurs in the same area but not always in exactly the same spot. I check with the local alpha geeks at the gaming store. They don't remember any issues and can;t find a copy of the game. I am not amused.

Today I walk out into the living room to see my husband playing Animal Crossing on the cube (the PS2 hated me last week as well btw and went blank in the middle of /.hack: Infection) It was running fine. A few slow downs on the gameboy advance link, but seemed fine. So with trepidation I loaded Baldur's Gate. I made it through the boss battle and 2 more. Then I got the error as I headed into the swamp to investigate the tower in part 3. I turned the machine off and will try again tomorrow.

So far my rating on this game is a solid 6. It is good, but WOTC breaks their own rules on monsters out of their own books. Characters regain hits over time, monsters do not. And who ever heard of taking out a beholder by running around a room flailing or a dragon alone? I hate the point of view for range attacks. But on the plus side. It is a great dungeon crawler, the closest I am going to get to Eye of the Beholder or the Lands of Lore series now that Westwood is gone. There are not too many side quests and the story moves along quickly.

If the GameCube and the disk allow, I will finish this game. It has bugged me for ...

Ok, so I stumbled across this 5 or 6 years ago. I liked it enough I have never left. But, MMO's the fickle nature of gamers and real life have taken their toll. Instead of 40 on a night we are lucky to have 10.

Yet, still those who love the game play it. We argue, we fight, - yes. But we still play it. Players still become builders and expand the game. They add skills, zones, MOBs, contests, spells, and suggest actively changes. So, I guess I am here until one of use is no more. Given its longevity. It is likely to outlast me. And who knows. Maybe MUDS will return after all they were the first MMOs

I started playing in March. I have a full friends list, most are not in my guild though some were for a while. Tonight I log on after not being on for a day or 3. Right off the bat I get a whisper Connan the Terrible wants to know how it's going I say cool. The guy has helped me on 3 missions. Why? Because he likes the game.

I manage to avoid getting immolated and a few minutes later a newbie I helped out 2 months ago. Whispers to me he is moving along well too, This is what MMOs, MUDS and other games are about. This is also why the game frustrates me slightly because see none of these people who are on my friends list (with the exception of a few guildies) are in the same guild. Yet we all see to always be together.

Yes there are idiots on the game but I have to say this, the ADMIN does the best the can to keep them off. They punish the sale of in game items for RWM. They equally punish the tattlers and whiners for annoying. So, as long as there are people who take time to just ask how is it going, and shoot the breeze about the game for a few moments, I will ignore the naked dancers in Ascalon and keep playing.

The name of the game is Guild wars, yet, it seems there is no loyalty to guilds. The guild I joined had 47 people when I did. Now it has maybe 10. People change guilds like crazy. Anyone it seems can make one and everyone it seems does. My suggestion is basic. Freeze the number of guilds. As ones die out do not replace them. Lastly try to find a way to bring the game back in line with it's title. Perhaps greater xp if 2 or more members of the same guild group to run quests. PK or just explore. Of course you could change the name too, but that would be a shame. The concept is great.

Ok, so a bunch of players on Valhalla came up with some great ideas of ways to draw more players and maybe improve the MUD. I should point out that the MUD takes donations, but it is free and the money the ADMIN does take in goes back into the MUD. Knowing that the MUD needs support with work or money, I took on one of the tasks and started it. I contacted the Admin asked can I do this for you? He said sure and Off I went, I posted on one to the boards that the MUD Paper was starting up again. RIGHT under it another player posts So Have the Admin responded t any of this if so I did not see.

In other words. -= We want changes, but ya know we don;t want to help out in anyway we will just sit back and watch and when you make em then we'll let ya know if ya got it right.

Now. here is a suggestion to players before you complain that the game needs changes because it is old and outdated and yeah you loved it 10 years ago, but now.. How about showing the game owners that it is worth their while to make changes. In other words, log in and play. Do not just log in complain and leave.

Not all players who complain actively play the games they complain about. Changes be made that have not been publically announced because the owners are waiting to see if anyone even noticed. So try this if you play a game you love but see it dying. Make suggestions to the ADMIN, but offer to help. Even if you cannot code, you can test, or check text for spelling errors etc. Face it free games are getting fewer and fewer. And maybe you now make enough to afford the high speed ISP, the P2P monthly fee and all the extras.

But remember when you couldn't? Help others who are where you were and spend some time on a free site to keep it fun and to encourage others.