Presenting Continuum

[Galaxy Turbo]

Alright, so some of you may know that I'm studying Interactive Media Design at university. I have a games module coming up and I've been asked to present my analysis of a game. It doesn't have to be a video game, in fact it could be any type of game in the world, and I'm thinking that presenting Continuum may not be a bad idea, because it's definitely interesting to say the least.

I have 10 minutes for this presentation, so if you had 10 minutes to present subspace, what would you tell people? Points I've considered:

- Very early days of online gaming, but chat system is still very strong.
- General player interactions within the game, squad and league systems.
- Player driven community, people make the changes that shape the game by the way they play it, moreso than admins having total control over every decision and players being forced to adapt to them.


Also, if you wouldn't present an analysis of Continuum, what would you present? Are there any other interesting games out there you would analyse and present to a class instead?

[kthx]

I don't see why you wouldn't do it about this game honestly, I mean it has everything.

The game was originally stolen by Priitk and renamed it to Continuum who later went on to have a hand in Skype and Limewire. I mean, games today strive for the kind of support from players with new mods and maps that this game has had for 13 years. The history is rich, and it might get us a few new players if only for an hour or so.

[JabJabJab]

Look around, SSDL has a nice layout of ss history, uhh a few other things do too, but mention about what seperates us from other online games, VIA the open development, the staff-player bonds, etc. etc.

[inaphyt]

Terr's bursts hit walls for a long time and other ships can attach to it. ^-^

[Maverick]

Isn't subspace / continuum the longest running mmog around? If it's, you should mention that aswell

[Dutch_]

SubSpace evolved from a game originally called Sniper (1995), a project to test the effects and severity of lag in a massively multiplayer environment over dialup connections.[9] After its creators realized its viability as an actual game, public beta testing began in February, 1996, and it became fully public later that year. The game was released commercially in December 1997 with a list price of US$27.99 for unlimited play, requiring no monthly or hourly fees.[10] The game was originally developed by Burst, led by Jeff Peterson (aka Jeff P.) and Rod Humble, for the US branch of the now-defunct Virgin Interactive. Later on, Jeff Petersen would use SubSpace as inspiration for Sony Online Entertainment's Infantry and Cosmic Rift. From the wiki

I think it its the first successful mmog made. A quite brilliant game for its time. Clans (squads), banners, chat system, highly customizable maps, greens, gameplaywise.

[duel pasta]

yeah you can also tell them there are over 900 custom arenas for it

[soup]

and that I play it as well

[Exalt]

You can tell them that you have a wide variety of people, ranging from pedophiles and their jail-bait, all the way up to 35 year old fat women and their online love affairs with terrorist arabs. '

You could also explain how this game helps nerds lose their virginity... like when delectable drove 5 hours to see panda bear, and she had sex with him in her car and he literally was in and out and done in a matter of 5 seconds... and that she cried... and then he cheated on her using adultfriendfinder.com and then how he got banned and then how he came back and then how he tucks his jersey in

or apok's technical child molestation of kitty when she was underage

or Randedl and missleesha or w/e getting married and divorced already

well, you can figure more ideas out from there... but those are some good plot twists to examine!

[Sube]

thts fkkin hilarious exalt :laughing:

[Jason]

one interesting thing i've always loved about subspace is the fact that it has fulfilled a very significant role in the history of mmog's, and yet it is still a relatively obscure game. if you ask your average joe gamer to name an important mmog, i highly doubt they're going to say anything about ss.

despite our obscurity, we're still here. it's just awesome when you think about it. how many other games can you name off the top of your head that still have a reasonably active/substantial playerbase after over a decade since being released?

[kthx]

diablo2, starcraft, warcraft2 :P

[PaulOakenfold]

how many dicks do you present a year exactly kthx?

[Jason]

well yeah, kthx, but my point (which i admit was made poorly) was that subspace is a game that has endured without anywhere near as much publicity as games such as those you mentioned.

[Da1andonly]

The thing I find most interesting about this game is the players and how well you know them. Just by seeing a name and a banner, you know where that guy is from, about how old he is, what kind of a person he is and so on. No other game has this much in-depth knowledge of the community itself - at least no game I've come across.

That, and all the dicks.