Flagship Studios has decided to give everyone currently in the Mythos beta 2 invites, so I’d like to offer the first 2 people that reply an invite. Just comment here and I’ll send it within 24 hrs, probably much sooner. BTW if you get on my characters name is Omicronn, lev 19 Pyromancer.

For those of you who missed it, below are links to mine and Geoff’s previews of Mythos.

Geoff’s Preview

My Preview

Disclaimer: MMOCrunch takes no responsibility for any damage you do to yourself, others, or Orc Shamans.  Seriously, please be careful.

Have you ever seen a Fire Mage and thought to yourself, “Wow, that would be neat.” Who here hasn’t wanted to throw fireballs from their hands? Well, now you can in just a few easy steps. Just follow the directions at this site to create your own homemade fire balls! Impress your friends and get laughed at by your loved ones! You’ll laugh all the way to the fire extinguisher knowing that you were a Fire Mage at least once in your life.

Thought I might introduce myself here as I am one of the new MMOCrunch writers. My name is Andrew and I am an avid gamer and MMO veteran. My first and favorite MMO is Anarchy Online and cannot wait for Age of Conan to launch. I have played just about every major MMO on the market and Beta tested quite a few. I work in Information Technology so look for some Tech related articles in the future. Hope you enjoy my first article!

For many years, video games have been used as educational and learning tools. Realistic flight simulators have been in use by the United States military for quite some time and even our National Champion LSU Tigers use a modified football video game to run offense and defensive playbooks, but how can online worlds bring education and video gaming together?

Second Life, an online multiplayer game, gives users free range to create whatever they can, using the 3D modeling tools provided. Large communities have been created and an entire virtual world emerged. Many educators saw this as an opportunity to create something unique. Several university and college campuses have been erected on private and public areas, where classes meet and students collaborate. Hospitals are created to educate medical students. Banks and businesses have started to follow suit, experimenting with virtualization of their storefront operations. Even a US Defense Department grant looks to takes video game education to a new level.

With a new SCORM compliant project, the US government takes education to new places, literally. Utilizing a team of programmers, 3D modelers, researchers, and educators, the US Department of Defense has begun building a virtual China within Second Life. Created on its own private island with the aid of photos and maps, the virtual world is being used as a supplement to current diplomatic training to educate US diplomats and other government employees about China’s history, geography, and even how to use Chinese ATM and Subway ticketing machines. More than just text books and slideshows, this training aims to ensure that government agents not only know China, but also how to function within China. If this virtual training succeeds, perhaps the scope of the project will grow to include more places, or even become a public learning tool. Why not model the entire world complete with historical landmarks, storefronts, and people? Learn to interact with people and machines from all around the world. Learn their customs, even their languages, all from this virtual world.

So where does this leave education in the future? Now that major universities and colleges have created there own campuses, can virtual education replace traditional online courses? With more virtual worlds in the works from Google and Sony, will virtual worlds start to become less of a game space and more of a living space? I just wonder how long the lines at the Virtual DMV will be.

In today’s get up and go-go world there are a lot of people turning to the digital medium in order to fulfill certain parts of their lives. For example email and social networks have completely made writing an actual paper mail obsolete. I mean, who seriously does that these days? I think my gramgram (grandma) does, but that’s beside the point. In this world, right now, there are people who turn to digital pleasures because they don’t have time for the “real” version of such. Does this hold some truth for MMORPGs as well?

The MMORPG is no stranger to criticism, and it’s certainly no stranger to publicity. Beginning back in the Everquest era, MMORPGs began gaining media attention as wasteful timesinks for children who were, in turn, neglecting their homework, and, more importantly, their daily exercise. When a child was sitting at the computer for hours upon hours at a computer how much exercise were they actually getting? Well, aside from rapid finger movements while typing the answer is el zilcho, nada, none.

Now fast forward to the present day, a time when World of Warcraft has subscription numbers in the millions and there are about 40 other well established MMORPGs to choose from. Does the truth of yesteryears still hold today? Well yes and no. We still have the same children who are essentially spending hours upon hours in these virtual worlds wasting away their youth. It can actually be a bit depressing when you see somebody like that; however, due to the popularity of such titles like World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online we are beginning to see a new type of player. Somebody who maybe just wants to play as a sort of social exercise. Housewives, fathers, business types of all ages/races/sexes and grandparents are now venturing into the online worlds to meet some of that social desire that we as human beings require. Instead of actually going out to a bar at night, instead they log onto World of Warcraft or Second Life to get that same feeling of belonging.

Naturally, this isn’t as widespread as I probably made it seem in my last paragraph, but that’s not to say it’s not happening more and more often. A lot of people seem to think that MMORPGs have a height limit, that only a certain amount of the population will find an interest in them. However, I disagree. As the average American and European gets busier and busier with their work there will probably be a sharp increase in MMORPG subscriptions. Sometimes you are just too tired to head out to your local bar y’know? I am guilty of doing this on more than a few occasions.

Thoughts, comments, random words of wisdom? You know where to leave em. :)