-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
Wayfar 1444 is touted as a sandbox game that’s been compared to Dwarf Fortress, a masterpiece of old school gaming. However, I didn’t get much of
a chance to check it out in all reality. I entered the game for the second (I’d come and checked out months ago initially for a few moments) at
about four AM in the morning. It has a relatively simply sign up process, create username for email, and it e-mails you the random password to
your account. So all together it took me about two minutes to connect with my new character.
It has some light blue tutorial-ish words after you LOOK at the room to give you an idea of what you need to do to advance. So the first thing I
do is see that I can go north and buy some starting gear. From my last trip here I remember that buying a Terrain Surveyor is a good investment
as you need to survey areas of the planet you choose to remember how to get to those places or to have the system automatically have you travel
there.
The problem I had on this return and I fear something that will never get fleshed out in the Beta or even finished section of the game is the
judgment of the admin staff, and I’ll tell you why. I went through that process and was in there buying my gear when a guy named Popbob rolls
into the same room and fires upon me. I hadn’t even had time to buy more then two pieces of gear and already I was dead and the gear was
destroyed from the damage of the projectile weapon he shot me with. When I asked what gives on the CHATNET he said, “I shot you cause I can!
LOLOLZ”. I knew that Admin presence was light being that it was the butt crack of dawn so I decided to leave and come back later to see if they
would deal with the fellow.
Fast forward to 12pm today, I log in and go back through the process to find the admin chatting it up on the chatnet. I bring up my issue with an
admin who goes by Aphteroid in the game, and he doesn’t really pay all that much attention to it. In fact Popbob shows up again and punches me,
causing damage to my character and my skin suit (armor) then waves at me, obviously goading me. I bring it up and Aphteroid’s response is to come
and kill Popbob. I glance at the who screen and see that this Popbob is a BADMIN, which is an applied position in the game, giving him the
ability to inhabit NPCs in the game, but no real admin powers.
Now here is where I see the fundamental flaw, the admin/coder team is obviously brilliant as they have come up with a VERY original concept and
from the small bits I’ve seen it’s pretty damn cool in design. You gather raw materials from different biomes in the planet, then combine sets of
raw materials together to make everything from equipment and vehicles to buildings.
However, the demeanor of the game is reminiscent of the HELLMoo that was basically a huge griefing ball of annoyance. Some of the players can’t
even use proper punctuation or speak in correct sentences. “[chatzone] popbob says, "if you see him, make sure to show him what griefing really
is
" “[chatzone] popbob says, "blunt smokaz reppin" “[chatzone] TheMule says, "Haha reveal admin names and threaten them~" These are all exact
copy and pastes from the game chat that I let roll it’s course as I was actually playing another game. Though I will say that the admin did make
an attempt to control them, though childishly, “[chatzone] Aphteroid says, "but really now, stop dicking around, you'll get us a bad reputation"
Not to mention just the general vibe is a bit high schoolish. Below is a bit more chat:
[chatzone] Aphteroid says,
http://www.topmudsites.com/vote-wayfar1444.html[chatzone] Aphteroid says, "vote wayfar u skum"[chatzone] Aphteroid
says, "we at da top of da chart"[chatzone] Aphteroid says, "WINNING"[chatzone] Aphteroid says, "cheers d00ds"
L33t speaking and all that other stuff that should have vanished in the 90s.
So my finally verdict is, I think the GAME will be great, however with the folks running it and the players who are coming to INHABIT it. It will
be a huge exercise just to play the game without wanting to punch your monitor.
Editor's Notes: I am still getting a feel for the game, and maybe I'll be able to provide a clearer and more concise review once I've played the
game for a bit again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
