How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

1. Provide Dominions via digital distribution for FREE.
2. Hire (or pay retrospectively since he is the ENTIRE FREAKING. REASON YOU HAVE A PLAYER BASE, Shrapnel) llamabeast to program a game server.
3. Charge players 50 cents to join a game and 5 cents per turn played.
4. ???
5. Profit

how long have you played dominions? 1, 2, 3, 4 years? How many games are you in?

Imagine that there is NO upfront cost. You get the game and can single player for free. Evidence for or against the idea is anecdotal at best; but we all know that many players are put off due to 1) the cost of the game and 2) lack of digital distribution. We all know that Shrapnel hikes up the cost higher than a whore's skirt because they think it is a 'niche' game that 'niche' players will pay anything for, and they are sort of right. But the game is freaking fun, and many other people would come to enjoy and get addicted to it given the opportunity.

Problem is the current marketing scheme does little to funnel new players into the multi player aspects of the game (where it truly shines and was designed for). Long time and heavy players like myself would have painlessly paid 3 or 4 (at minimum) times the current cost of the game in a pay-to-play setup. Current average players would probably cover their cost of the game. And tons of players who would currently never ever play due to cost and Shrapnel's "this is a niche game" defeatism would be playing.

Obviously, a lot of stuff would have had to happen in Dominions design and release for a payment scheme like what I suggest, so it may have just never been very likely given when Dom was released. Really, the moral of the story is: When was the last time you donated to the llamaserver?

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Make it pay-to-play and I guarantee that I for one would walk away and never look back.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Why not take a lesson from Blizzard? And I don't mean WOW.

Run servers for free. Run ads on the server. Make money off selling advertising.

Of course, for that to work you need people to play your game. I'll note SC and D2 are still sold in gaming stores, but now its something like $20 for both SC and its expansion. Of course, you want as big a player base as possible, so you get more people visiting the server, and thus viewing the ads, and thus the ad space is more valuable.

Create additional games and offer them through the same server for MP content so each additional game adds to the value of the server.

The trick is not to get the players to pay-to-play, but to get companies to pay to advertise to those who are playing. Of course, that requires that it not be niche.

I agree entirely with Ballbarian that pay-to-play schemes make me unhappy, and I refuse to touch most MMORPGs for exactly that reason. (Ok, and I hate the tedious gameplay that adds nothing to the experience I can get playing a rogue-like).

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Really, what on earth is the point of this thread. Its like the endlessly repeated threads about digital distribution. Seriously, nothings going to change.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

50 cents a game a 5 cents a turn? that works out to like 2 or 3 dollars a month. You'd have to play a minimum of two games at a time for 2 or 3 years before you'd end up shelling out the current cost of the game. They could offer a "you pay 60 bucks now and never pay again" option, but I guarantee you that you and Ballbarian would never had agreed to that if you'd been given a pay to play option like this.

The idea is that players who would not drop 60 bucks now would be enticed to try the game out. Further, they would be funneled directly into the MP experience, and be exposed to the awesome player base and see how much fun the game really is. A big part of the problem is that Shrapnel does little to nothing to do that now (despite that the game is clearly designed primarily as an MP game).

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

You would also need to gut the server out of the game entirely so people couldn't play MP without using the official servers. So no self hosted games with your friends. Not to mention that if Shrapnel goes out of business or the business model doesn't work, no more MP at all.

More importantly, the number of people playing in games organized here, through llamaserver or whatever is a small fraction of those who bought the game. There would have to be a huge increase in games played through this official server to make up for all the lost sales revenue.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

the people who are for P2P systems don't understand the very simple psychology that works against it. when you pay once you can use something indefinitely because its yours, when it's P2P you are constantly thinking(at least subconsciously) on how to get the most bang out of your buck(since you control the buck you spent) so in this case more SP than MP(because its free) and perhaps smaller games with fewer turns than larger games with more turns.

another problem that will occur is that people will abandon their games a lot more often, losing interest+saving your bucks>just losing interest, so all the discussion around the "good player pledge" and all those issues will be severely hampered by a P2P system.

actually if SP will be free than how will it entice people to enter MP(not free)? not to mention that they already have a free Demo to give players a basic(and pretty good I must add) idea on how the game works while still reserving enough to make buying the game an actual necessity.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Make games cost a dollar to enter instead. The amount above 50 cents goes towards your first 25 turns. If you get knocked out before that, it gets refunded. Handle payments through a credits set-up (credits are bought from a Shrapnel store-front).

People won't play SP because aside from a few unusual individuals (the kind of people that want to play on <I>unpopulated</I> Ultima servers so that they can <I>be alone</I>) no one actually thinks SP is any fun. Also the psychology bit you mentioned works for this too: MP costs a trivial amount to play, but it biases players to the notion that it is because that's the way the game is supposed to be played, and is were all the fun is. I think a lot of people buy the game thinking SP is the <I>normal</I> and don't try MP for a long time (if they ever try it at all).

If I had played the demo, I would have never bought the game. I bought the game on impulse because I thought it was going to be like Master of Magic. I played SP for about a month and then didn't play again for several months after (because it was so boring). During those several months I got into games sold as online games, and got the online experience. I installed Dom3 again on a whim and, having been broken into online gaming and realizing it was the norm (not the exception) was willing to jump right into Dom's MP play. It wasn't until after that experience that I become a Dom addict. I can guarantee you that the demo, combined with the absurd cost and lack of digital distribution, dissuades potential players. Currently, you <B>cannot</B> experience MP play on the demo. For dominions to find its full potential, it needs a distribution and payment scheme that pushes players immediately into MP, and allows them to try it at some trivial cost, and then only charges them that trivial cost to continue playing.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

If it was 5 cents a turn I really can't imagine people abandoning games to save money or doing anything they don't do now. 5 cents is a sufficiently small amount that I'd equate it to 'nothing' rather than 'bucks'.

Not that I'm for or against this idea, I just don't see people changing their game playing behaviour or playing SP to save money if it were to cost that little to play.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

There are ways to supplement a server.

Anyone can join PoDs such as CafePress for free. Create a merchandise shop. Sell Tshirts
(anyone remember the Tshirt Contest?)
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=18823
Sell mugs with the keypress chart on it for that late night coffee blitzing.
Sell CDs with mods, or maps, or some of the great wallpaper and background screens
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=30224
Or posters and greeting cards of the same screens.
Sell Baalz Guides, or some of the AARs, in book form

Also a site can open an Amazon account and create links to appropriate items. Music CDs, movies, things to make your gaming experience better. With an amazon affiliate account you can make a few cents on each click-thru

Besides charging to play you can also charge for email addresses on the server. Especially if it has a good dominions name (I wish I could get one on www.Dominions3.com but its just a flytrap). Or webpage space on the server for the many projects we have in the community here. Or DNS service. Or charge for hosting instead of for playing. Charges could be amazingly reasonable if the goal isnt to make money but just to cover the cost of the server.

Some services that could be added would be for SMS notifications of turns, fancy graphs and charts for ongoing games, voice-share chat like XBox games have, competition ladders, forums not moderated by the corporation, whiteboards for game strategy, IRC, advertising for members willing to fill requests for pay.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

I agree that the marketing is missing thr point of multiplayer to an extent, that the demo is discouraging in not allowing a multiplayer experience, and that Llamabeast should get paid for what he's done and to keep doing it.

But I don't think that dominions has a future as a pay to play game, or that it is possible to reconstruct the whole business model at this point.

If they want to make some more money on Dominions, I think it might be a good idea to hire llamabeast along with some web designer to make the llamaserver official, and then start selling the game a bit cheaper. With a new marketing drive pushing the multiplayer feature.

On the other hand I'm satisfied as it is. I like the fact that our community is small, so you get to know the other players. I like the independence and super minimalistic style of llamaserver. And I like the general idea of the multiplayer scene being completely independent and non profit. So personally I don't want any of that to happen.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

The demo does allow multiplayer, doesn't it?

You can't play with someone who's using the full game, but I'm not sure how that would work anyway, given the demo's limitation.

And frankly it's a niche game by design. Many of the things we love about it keep it a niche game.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Yes the demo allows MP. I used to run demo-level mp games on my server.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

It's not so easy to make a niche game widely popular.
I think it's not a secret, that it's possible to run cracked Dom3 absolutely for free (and play MP without any troubles), just a conscience matter. However people even in my country (where vast majority use cracked copies, and buying games = exception) are not eager even to try Dominions.

Shrapnel marketing has always been surprising me. I can't understand why it was llama who'd made the server, but not the official devteam. Additionally it's quite easy even for a single lazy web-developer to make a user-friendly web-interface for finding games, diplomacy, tracking results, etc. After launching such services Shrapnel could buy some articles in popular gaming resources, launch ad and SMO campaigns.

However, in my opinion, it's still possible to make Dominions popular and profitable.

Find a venture investor.

Hire a good manager, some decent interface designers, as-coders and several PR/community managers.

Convert the game into a f2p browser flash game. Seriously. Flash is just enough to handle Dominions client-side. It's also about 50 times easier to make changes and improvements.

Make a killer-ui for everything. Easy-messaging and trade in one-click, auto-saving, history, statistics, gamefinding and subfinding tools, blogs/forums for every game, and much more. Translate the game into all major languages.

Keep tracking players' results with exp system. Allow unlocking some nations, pretender/ingame bonuses, general options with levelling, or alternative buying (this system is most efficient in mmo, proved many times). Bonus points limit is customizable for every game. Levelling gives you several random bonus options (like skills in HoMM, or cards in various CCGs) while purchasing allows getting any particular bonus you want instantly. Exp system also motivates for efficient games and subs, no staling.

Host special games regularly — megagames, interesting scenarios, mods, tournaments. Charge some money for participating.

Maintain massive ad and SMO campaigns. One banner with a hot chick and loud words on some popular entertainment site could bring more players, than all our puny attempts to convince friends to start playing.

Dominions have small, but very loyal and selective community. And we could be a base for a much bigger startup.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

I think you'd probably lose a big chunk of the loyal user base if you did that. It does sound like it would make some money though.

I think it's fairly likely the admins/mods are going to delete part of your post and maybe even warn that they'll ban you, because you mentioned piracy. Just so you know.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Why? That system allows all possibilities the game is offering at the moment, lots of free enhancements, and possible paid/"grinded" enhancements.
I'm not agitating to use pirate versions in any way of course. But pretending that piracy doesn't exist and prohibiting to mention it (like a name of some evil overlord in fairytales) is quite lame and childish imo.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

If you give the possibility for 'grinded/paid' enhancements, people start to feel forced to grind or pay, or find themselves second class citizens or lacking a chance to play a fair game. See countless MMO games for examples. I understand that's the point, in much the same way the point of gambling is to be addictive.

I just noticed now that you did say the level of bonus points should be customizable, so I guess you could have games where none of this grinding metagame stuff applied. I'd still play that, but some players in this community would probably leave because they just don't get along with the newer players being attracted by the levelling up, grinding, paying for extra stuff etc.

re: piracy I agree, as I imagine 99% of people on this board do, but I have seen posts deleted and people warned/banned for talking about piracy. Particularly if they mention how easy it is to pirate. I just thought it fair to warn you how the admins of this forum run things. It is their house after all so they can do whatever they like.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Exactly. There is enough of a learning curve to this game that people get better by practicing and playing more. New players are already at a significant disadvantage just from lack of experience. There is no need to give expert players another advantage in the form of "level" bonuses or some such.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

The subject of Official Servers was discussed extensively with the CEOs of Shrapnel and Illwinter both joining the thread. The needs, what requirements to fill the need, options, etc. If you search on Brooks official server you can find some of it.

Some points to bring up....
The ability to run games tends to be
tcpip & gui & win: X
tcpip not gui & win: X+X+X
tcpip not gui not win: X+X+X+X+X
pbem not gui not win: X*100
at the time (and maybe still) Shrapnel was on Win servers

Also some of the pros and cons not being mentioned falls under the difference between a fan-run server admining the games vs an official server admining the games. The "official" part is a weight not worth ignoring when debating how simple it would be for a corporation to do a server.

At the time of the discussions it wasnt a mass of small games that the need was felt for but large long-running games. So comparisons with the two main fan-based servers running now is useful info but isnt completely a fair comparison.

Both Illwinter, and Shrapnel, have been willing to declare fan-run creations (servers, wikis, documentation) as official doing everything they can to support them and direct people to them. Kudos there at least.

As for editing piracy comments keep in mind that the people deleting the posts might also agree with you. However, it IS an official corporation server which means that they do not get to just decide whether or not to apparently support the discussion of some subjects. There are fan-run forums and channels for such discussions.

-- DISCLAIMER: I am no longer staff, or moderator, so this is basically an old answer to an old subject.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Er,.. what? I just don't follow this at all. Why isn't it fair?

Illwinter has supported some fan run creations, this is true. 'everything they can' is going way too far as usual. What has shrapnel done? Put up a link to the wiki?

And why should they get kudos for declaring someone else's work 'official'? That just means it's something people wanted that they didn't actually do, but want to associate with the game they're selling. Actually,... I haven't even seen where they declare anything official. Link?

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

I don't follow it either. Are you saying the two main fan-based servers (yours and the llamaserver?) are for a mass of small games not for large long-running games?
While there are certainly small games on them, there are also plenty of large long-running games. I'm in one that started with all EA nations and started 6 months ago. All ages games have been hosted on the llamaserver, right? What qualifies as large and long-running and why is the distinction important for the server?

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

I started a game this week-end and we're already around turn 20. I sometimes played blitz games which would last the whole evening. I would do none of this if I had to pay even 1 cent per turn. I like to own stuff and hate to rent, so I wouldn't play at all with the proposed scheme.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

I'm not really too concerned with the rent/own issue, though questions of what happens when/if Shrapnel shuts the servers down would get raised.

The whole experience ladder/special bonuses/buying bonuses thing just turns me off completely. I enjoy playing the game. I don't want special rewards to encourage me to play. Nor do I want to have to buy special bonuses to compete. I don't want to have to play lousy nations to unlock the special nations.

The other issue not brought up with the idea of only having an official server is mods. How would mods be approved for use and installed on the official server? Or maps for that matter?

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Im not sure of actual numbers on LLama's server. But Mose's did some very large games early on.
Mine has hosted single-age games of over 60 players, maps over 1000 provinces, and a couple that lasted more than a year. Obviously those do not represent the majority of Dom3 games. In early discussions the advantage of an official server for such games was brought up which might have entered into the decision making. Of course now we have more specific numbers on how many small games vs large games are usually created by this community which would help in a new decision making process. We also have more specific info on how much computer and bandwidth would be used.

As to their helping out... Illwinter offered free copies of the game to early server efforts. Johan personally tested, ironed out, and patched some needed changes. Ive been surprised when Tim Brooks (Shrapnels CEO for those that dont know) has posted using the word "official" in connection to fan-based wiki's. Not to mention fan-based documentation being included in official patches. All of that is rather rare. Of course it can all be portrayed in a harsh money-driven light but thats not my style. (and the title under my name gives me an excuse for it so ptthhhhh :) )

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

So? I still don't see where you're going with this. You had more data about large games than smaller ones. So what? Why does that make it unfair to look at llamaserver then wonder about the lack of an official server?

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

I dont consider either of us to be a fair representation of what an official server would be put thru.
Particularly since an official games server by Shrapnel would not have been just a Dominions 3 server.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

What does that have to do with game size? How would that be problematic? An official server should be better and have more juice - if you're saying the greatly increased volume of games would be a problem, you're also therefore saying dom3 MP (and therefore dom3, realistically) would be wildly more popular with an official server.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Possibly. Especially in hindsight. But it might have become the one-stop shopper for Dom3 games. It appears that most of LLama's games come from this forum while most of mine come from usenet. And most of Mose's I believe came from a french gaming forum which had a very active dom3 community..

SEIV's fan-run server PBW was one of the main considerations and example at the time of the main debate. Not to mention a dozen or so other Shrapnel games. Most of the games on Shrapnel support internet or pbem play. And a number of them support mods.

As you say, an official server should be better and have more juice. That point is not necessarily a "pro" in the consideration.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

You say this as thought that would have been a problem.

If Shrapnel can't manage to scrape together a couple of hundred dollars to pay for a single computer to run a couple of hundred PBEM Dominions games, then they aren't worth much as a publisher.

Stop making excuses for them Gandalf. They supposedly aren't paying you to shill for them anymore.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Are you even going to try to do a good job at hiding the fact that you are an alt account?

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Yeah a few people have said that about Tollund. Who knows though. Who cares.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Normally I wouldn't. But it is fairly obvious it is being used to attack another forum user with anonymity.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Well the last time that happened it was Gandalf attacking himself, so I don't know how sympathetic I'd be anyway :]

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

No matter who it is, it is pretty lame.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Of course as an alt-troll he would simply be feeding me straight line points for me to follow up on.
Such as....

One stop taking over for half a dozen servers would have its drawbacks.

A couple hundred dollars might replace MY server but I definitely would never say something like that about the others.

And as I said, an official Shrapnel server would not be just for a couple hundred dominions games.

And the cost involves more than just buying a good computer. There is also hosting, bandwidth, and paying for the programming.

Then there is the admining. If nothing else, the various fan-run game servers and the mp forums show the amount of administration it would take. Ask anyone who has done it and quit.

Much less the amount of time for being the official "referee" for such games which would also occur.

A few hundred dollars for a server? And that to run various games that are almost a decade old. With a couple of new ones in the works Im guessing they would have to be considered now also. I dont KNOW that they support internet and/or pbem but that is fairly standard for games here.

--
Just what I always wanted. My very own bunny rabbit. I will hug him,
and pet him, and squeeze him, and name him George.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Why are you assuming that all of the other servers would no longer exist?

Why not? What other games do they have with a large PBEM multiplayer contingent?

Bandwidth? What is this, 1993 and the era of Compuserve? Consumer bandwidth via the cell phone network is around a cent per megabyte. I'm sure that any company that can manage a webforum can afford to send a few thousand emails a day.

Gandalf, just because you haven't figured out how to automate things doesn't mean that it's impossible for others to do so. Have you ever even looked at the Llamaserver webpage? Almost every admin option needed is right there for the people who are actually playing the game.

Referee for what? Automatic servers don't care about game disputes between players.

Well, they are supposed to be supporting their games. That is, after all, the only reason that a developer would bother with a publisher in this day and age.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Kind of curious about this thread, of course largely hypothetical, and why not get it back on track after above derailment.

It was important to quote all of that because this poster, alhorro, has a very good grasp of how money is minted with a video game in the 21st century. Imagine for a moment this could actually be done, a whiz bang, super friendly web UI for Dom3, digital distro, and llamabeast on the payroll. An aside, thanks llama! I am gonna click your donate button after I post this, I really like how the OP phrased his contribution to the community. Have a few pay to play features, a little grind or two that can be avoided by a payment, even something simple like a fun avatar or unlocking Bogarus. Achievement badges, a player tracking system, it is amazing how simple database results displayed as a graphic can make people invested in a community, into a product.

Hah, I don't play games like that generally. Kingdom of Loathing is the limit of my experience, and I never paid for any content there. But it functioned along those line and must've had over a 100k users (a random guess) ... in fact here is a quote from KoL at wikipedia:

Pretty impressive I'd think. And as a game, KoL could be considered an extremely niche game. But what does niche mean when we apply it to Dom3? It is my estimation that Dom3 is niche because it has priced itself into a niche. Stranger and less compelling gameplay has garnered much more mainstream success. And price of entry has a lot to do with that.

And while I don't pretend Dom3 will receive such treatment, I am at least happily imagining a modern UI, after just scripting a mid game Tien Chi army with 20+ commanders and 300 troops all arriving from seperate provinces and hoping to affect a communion, a modern UI that would even reduce the amount of clicking I just did by 10%. That and a neat little newbie icon by my name that I would hope to upgrade. Also a little personal hall of fame page with my best commanders and their kill counts.

But I digress. So much could be done, and the future of this industry is really at the intersection of brilliant gameplay designers like our friends at Illwinter, community development, and marketing/pricing models endorsed by alhorro.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

They might. But not nearly at the same level. Based on the experiences of other games that have gone to official servers.

Why not? What other games do they have with a large PBEM multiplayer contingent?[/quote]
At the time of the original one, SEIV had much more of a pbem contingent. And thats if you want to consider them limiting the game to pbem. I thought the bigger/better thing was in play here.

Actually you are talking about the developers managing the cost. And a hefty investment/payback is more along the line of what Shrapnel exists to avoid.

Huh? Almost everything on my server is massively automated. Arguably more than LLama's. Try looking thru the "problem with" posts and the responses.

Ahhh yes. That is so obvious from the mp threads. And the many "please fix" which are often tried to shift to the server. Even more so if it was an official server.

Well, they are supposed to be supporting their games. That is, after all, the only reason that a developer would bother with a publisher in this day and age.[/quote]
Why? Seriously. Because you want it that way? Pick a forum for ANY game. Not just here. Especially ones with official free servers. The love is just rampant. :)

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Actually I quite agree. Id really like to see it done. And the many ways I mentioned that it could also be funded. Surely some internetneur is looking for such a concept.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Step 1. Dominions 3.
Step 2. Microtransactions.
Step 3. Profit!

It's that time of year, isn't it? Someone comes along and has the secret to bring the awesomesauce to Dominions 3. And while it's nice to see folks suggest taking the game to a higher state it should be noted that it seems to always be based on a faulty assumption that Dominions 3 is this mysterious, unknown game to the world at large and if only (INSERT LATEST IDEA) happened, then Dom3 would be bigger than the pope.

First off turning it into something in which you have to pay-to-play, no matter how small the amounts are, is going to be a huge turn off to a lot of folks. Free always trumps pay. Again, even if the amount is trivial there is still the psychological effect.

Next, frankly for a niche (and I'll get to that point in a moment) title Dominions 3 is already doing fantastic. It was released in September 2006 and continues to sell just as strong. It is still mentioned at gaming websites and the few periodicals left. Multiplayer games are constant. How many mainstream games from 2006 can say this? For an indie game it has been a huge triumph.

As far as being niche, make no mistake, this is a niche title as 99% of strategy games are now (the other 1% being games whose title has "Meier's" in them). No matter how big it may seem in the grand picture it's still a very tiny fish.

One last thing. As a company we are of course interested in revenue, so don't you think that if we saw value in something we would do it? I'm not saying that specifically about this particular MMO idea, but just in general. We're not the new kids on the block and we are continually evaluating the environment. So have some faith. :)

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

But WAIT.
Now that you are here can I throw out one more?
How about a phone app? Or let me play it on my iPod?
THAT is the NEW future. :)

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

You know, a portable hardcore TBS would actually be pretty cool...

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

AND multiplayer.
The PBEM structure might support that well. Most of the cell phones that could play such an app also support email. If the hosting could run on any linux or win server that can receive emails, and the client program would run as a cell phone app, that might be powerful. Small client just for turns, huge server run hosted game. (might get people fired from their jobs but thats not new for our games anyway)

I already support text messaging cell phones "game XXXX hosted, your turn is ready" for Dom3 games.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

They could probably do that with the cloth map version of Elemental if the market is there.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Forum is wacky today. Sorry for the double post!

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

Heehee. If I was a conspiracy theorist Id be suspicious.
Necromancy occurs on the subject of official servers.
Conversation starts getting heated.
Suddenly as have a down day where all the shrapnel servers go blonky.
Conversation about wanting an official game server dies off.

(oops, I may have violated my shill contract by saying that)
I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT SHRAPNEL DID THAT ON PURPOSE.
I just thought the timing of it was good conspiracy material. :)
I cant believe some people didnt jump on it.

OH and while Im disclaiming I should officially add
TOLLUND IS NOT MY ALT for trolling or playing Dom3 games in ways I would normally not play.

Re: How turn Dominions from a niche game to an MMO
 

It is pointless to deny that at this stage Gandalf, the proof is overwhelming.