I think I couldn't be more happy when it comes to PlaneShift right now!
PlaneShift's this awesome FOSS MMORPG I'm playing. I love the fact that PlaneShift is simply the true role-players' game – it aims to provide not only a fantasy world, but also one that is based on logic (although another, more magical kind …but everything should make sense in it!) and such an environment in which the players can freely interact and enjoy without being crippled with the classical limitations of a game of this ganre.
What I'm talking about? Well, let's just say that PS is developed as a hobby by people who play role-playing games and a lot of what was good in such games found a way into PS as well and a lot that players disliked got rethough and made better.
For instance PlaneShift's one of the first games (yes, before Morrowind!) that started implementing a skill-based system instead of the "classic" job- and level-based one. Also the player communicates with NPC's by typing – just like (s)he would with other players. The idea behind is that the players shouldn't feel the difference if a character is being played by a person or a computer – you don't get a point'n'click menu when you're talking to your local cop or bankier, right? Also, to make it all more realistic, the idea is that the NPC's will not only be able to understand you when you speak (the thesaurus AI is in heavy development) but also lead lives of their own.
Khrm …yea, well … that's just a small peek into what PlaneShift is all about and just the tip of the iceberg why I like it so much. :D
The first thing to make me smile is that yesterday PlaneShift just got it's new (pre)alpha version – 0.3.15. Of course, the Windows client was the first to come out, but today Xordaan said that the Linux binary is already made and will be available as soon as the mirrors get updated.
And the second thing is that Igor Kolar (a friend of mine from Cyberpipe and law school) managed to migrate by hand the old database of a sub-project I started for PlaneShift, called the TreeCastle. TreeCastle is a project to plan/develop a section of the PlaneShift world – a wonderous part where magic is even more present and concentrated and thus all sorts of anomalies/mutations have taken place. We've been trying to migrate that data for over two years now, so this was such a big success, I'm smiling from ear to ear! Also people who've been in the TC project for a long time are starting to return – we have a future!! :D
hook out → smiling and sipping his Tarry Souchong (like Lapsang Souchong, only even more smokey and harder to find) which he was looking for for quite some years now and found a small shop in St. Gallen, Switzerland that actually sells it! …mmmmmmmmm …smokey goodness