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Editor's
Note: The writer of this review also works for Simutronics,
maker of GemStone III. Even though he thinks he's being rather
objective and honest, you might want to consider that he'll not
likely wish to upset his employer. Of course since the editor
is also him, the potential conflict of interest goes quite
deep. Reader beware! Muahahaha!
I began my career with Simutronics as an Assistant
GameMaster working on GemStone III. Before I was hired, I'd decided
to play GSIII for a few months, learn about it and perhaps create my
own online game. In fact I'd gotten somewhat into that project
when I found out that they were looking to hire new AGMs. I
applied and three months later was interviewed and hired.
Being
a Christian and mindful of the controversy surrounding roleplaying
games and the animosity built up by those who loved these games
and those who saw them as the devil's tool to destroy the souls
of the youth, I let them know about my Christian beliefs in case
that would make a difference. Obviously it didn't and I was
invited to be an AGM (Assitant GameMaster). Ultimately, I
was hired to work full time in-house and eventually was given the
job of Product Manager for DragonRealms (see the review for that
game here). After five years
I'm still a Christian and GemStone is remains to most popular online
multiplayer game ever written.
So, why
did I say all this in a review about GemStone III? First, so
you'd know a bit about my background and potential bias.
Second, so you'd know that committed Christians do work in this
industry (and I'm not the only one) and we've not become "satan-spawn"
while we were working on very secular and very fun games. As a
Christian, I've no more compromised my faith than any Christian who
happens to work at a secular job, even if this one is a bit
different from the norm.
What
GemStone III taught me was that there are a bunch of really nice
people out there who happen to make games. They don't have a
hidden agenda of turning everyone into occult worshiping
zombies. I've seen it up close and personal for over five
years. I know. That doesn't mean there aren't problems
with these games from a Christian perspective. However, they
are common problems shared by any secular endeavor. There is
little that makes this job unique from other secular jobs (except
that this is a heck of a lot of fun, creative work).
So, on
with the review. GSIII is the oldest commercial online
game. At a dozen years old and still going strong, the game is
still the most played massively multiplayer game of all time.
That may not be the case in a couple years but for now it's
true. There is no other online game out there that can yet
claim 1,000,000 people have played their game. While other
games such as UO or EverQuest may have more subscribers currently,
they have not toppled all of GSIII's records. One of those
records is that GSIII has had more people online in one game
instance than any other massively multiplayer game, period, over
3000 in fact.
OK, so
what. GSIII has been around and it's had lots of people play
it. Well, glad you asked, because all of the above simply
supports what I'm about to say. Gemstone III is an incredibly
fun and deep experience. It's huge, boasting incredible
numbers of rooms (locations where players can be), intense game
play,
vast roleplaying opportunities, romance, intrigue, quests, houses,
societies, guilds, etc. As with all text based games, GSIII
has developed fantastic depth and scope because during all of those
12 years, the game was constantly growing.
In fact,
the game changes daily. One of the game's strengths is that it
can continue to add content "on the fly." That is,
the game can introduce new areas, creatures, weapons, anything into
the game while it's still running. In fact, entirely new
systems coded from the ground up can be introduced without the
players having to leave the game. This means that the big
expansions other online games deliver once each year are spread out
throughout the year in GSIII (in fact all of Simutronic's text games
are like this). Each time you log into the game, you can
easily run into
something entirely new.
The idea
of GemStone, like most other RPGs is that you start out with a weak
character, fight monsters to gain experience and once you have done
this enough you gain a new level, train in new skills and go out to
fight tougher monsters. But this is only one aspect of what
you can do with your character. You can join a society which
gives you new powers or a guild which offers new abilities and
skills or a player run house which gives you a base of friends who
jointly work together for the good of the house.
Due to
the huge numbers of verbs (or commands) in the game, almost anything
you can think of your character can do. Roleplaying, if you
spend some time doing it is quite easy in GSIII. However,
there are a large number of players who either do not care to
roleplay or do it sporadically. The trick is to find friends
who enjoy the same kind of play you enjoy. If you are a
roleplayer, find other roleplayers. If you are not into
roleplaying, you won't be forced to roleplay (as you gain experience
watching others you can begin to join in easily enough).
The
front end for the game is called the Wizard. You can choose to
use a Java front end if you prefer. The Wizard front end,
however, gives you
great control over the way text is presented in the game. The
default settings are very useful and as you get to know the front
end better you can customize it to fit your gaming style.
But I'm
a Christian and want to know how Christian friendly GSIII is?
Well, it's not hostile to Christians. In fact there is nothing
preventing a group of Christians getting together to roleplay in a
fashion that pleases them. The game doesn't promote one
religion over another. The gods of GSIII are modeled after the
classical Greek and Roman type gods. Not of particularly good
news for Christians but it does highlight the fact that the game
isn't trying to drag people into worshipping false gods. It's
obvious the gods of GSIII are there for roleplaying purposes and are
kept consistent with the fantasy world in which they were written.
There is
no reason you even have to deal with the gods of GSIII. When I
first started playing GSIII, my main character had rejected the
GSIII gods and chose not to go to them for any reason. This
was a roleplaying choice I made and after going through a few
characters I managed to get a character to 16th level (not to shabby
in my days for the amount of time I played) without a single
deed. A deed, for those who wonder what one is, prevents a
character from dying permanently. As long as you have a deed,
when you die, you can return to life. The reason my character
never got a deed was because to get one you had to give some
valuables and money to one of the gods to get that deed. To do
that would have been inconsistent with my character's identity.
But even
though the god's of GSIII are not real, and the magic characters use
is about as real as Michael Jordan's shaggy hairdo, it's still one
of those "uncomfortable" aspects of an otherwise
brilliantly fun game. Another
aspect of the game that may put off Christians is the use of some
pretty graphic violence in combat. Quite honestly, this
bothered me the least of anything but others are much more sensitive
to this. The graphic violence is somewhat rare in combat and
is rather sparse through the game but it does exist and should be
factored into your decision to play or not to play.
So, what
am I recommending here? If you're a Christian and want to know
if GSIII is OK, you're going to have to decide if anything in this
review bothers you enough to say, "no." This isn't a
Christian game and you're not going to get closer to the Lord while
playing it (Hmm, maybe if there was a fellowship of Christians who
played...). Like most other secular entertainment, the main
reason to play GSIII is because it's fun. It's not going to
destroy your walk with the Lord but it might not be right for you
either. It might be best that you spent more time growing
spiritually. You'll know this better than I.
There
are definitely benefits to playing GSIII (and other text based RPGs).
You'll become a better typist and improve your spelling
skills. It even excercises your math skills (there are lots of
numbers to keep track of!). You'll also have a chance to
socialize in a relatively safe environment. If anyone hassles
you, it's easy to get away from them. People have created deep
friendships through GSIII, some of which have led to marriage.
One
other thing that's important to keep in mind is how addictive this
kind of game can be. It's easy to spend hundreds of hours
playing with your friends online. It's important to maintain
perspective once you're "hooked" on the game. But
with that in mind, GSIII is worth your attention. The only
reason not to play it is if you are uncomfortable with the fantasy
religion it portrays, the fantasy magic or some of the
"over-the-top" depictions of violence.
.Final
Score
Highlights: Huge
world you can spend years playing. Very fun, straight forward
game mechanics.
Lowlights:
Relatively steep learning curve (you'll need up to a month to get
into the game enough to know it's for you or not. Some, like
me, get hooked right away). System of Religion will be a
turn-off to many Christians as will the magic and some of the
violent combat criticals.
Recommendation:
Try it out, but if you are a Christian you'll want to first decide whether or not the fantasy religion, magic and violence are
unacceptable. If they bother you, don't play the game.
If the fantasy doesn't offend you, then you'll probably enjoy the
game.
Hints:
Get the player guides and find friends quickly. Be patient and
use the HELP and ADVICE commands in the game as much as you can.
Age Appropriateness:
Pre-Teen to Adult
Christian
Sense (CS): 2.5
Game
Engine (GE): 4
Game
Play (GP): 4
Overall:
3.5 |
