I will tell you something about the games I played. Don't expect an historical view. Lacking on
historical resources for that and I know about that because I am a historian (got master degree on Ancient Roman history, dont ask me how I ended up with playing space games :P)
.
Spacegame in 2d, run by Altitude. Lots of fun and a very steady community. To grow in the game you needed experience (xp) and diaspora credits (dc).
Xp was gained by shooting bots, rins and later kaydin, in the right guild that even got you some cash. More cash was earned by trading
between planets. Trading was a bit boring, but strangely enough I still miss it!
2d roleplaying game, textbased with some pictures. To grow in the game you kill monsters or creatures. This can be done in 'safe'
arenas in towns without the risk of being killed by playerkillers or outside town with more xp to gain and more cash but risky.
Traveling is dangerous and has to be done quickly by typing real fast. Gaining special items is
nearly impossible for newer players and certainly when you are in the wrong timezone (items reset at 1.00 CET). Not everyone have the
same opportunity and that annoyed me, furthermore I missed the trading element. The lack of community sense finished it off for me as soon as
I found Rillaspora. I have given away all my chars and my guild to the only friend I had in game. Still miss him, but he is an orcish roleplayer and
does not want to fly in space. Since then I learned that my friend gave away all my chars to another guildmember of me, he still uses my guild and my crits.
He did not change the passwords, so I can still access them and I sometimes do.
The first spin-off for Diaspora that I did encounter. It was and still is (as far as I know) run by Guerilla. Is much like
the old Dia before the introduction of Helios ships. A new feature: Rin traders dropping goods. Something else new: guild revenue from sat ownership got into
hands of guildmembers directly. The higher the rank the more you get. I felt pretty lucky to be second rank in Last Hope guild with 5 sats.
For a while lots of Iron Shield members played Rillaspora and it was fun. Got myself a moth and helped lots of others getting theirs. I liked doing that very much.
Fighting Shadows was no fun though, and when all left for Xia2 i followed.
Still dont know why but whole Last Hope guild decided to leave Rillaspora for Endyspora. I found that out pretty late, flying around alone in Rilla for a while.
Endy was a totally different game. Set in the same universe all seems to be about hunting superbots, which gave lots of cash (millions). I bought all plans, got the cash from
my guildleaders, Pluto and Xanos, for a good ship. The day I wanted to buy a ship was the day Endy was no longer there, never to return. The guy who ran it was asked to stop using it by
Guerilla.
Go to xialinks for some usefull links, including M@nga's startersguide or visit the Shipstats
When Endy died I did not want to return to Rilla, because Rilla was the reason for Endy to die. I had seen Xiaspora, run by Freaknigh, before but it was very buggy.
I started to play because I had nothing else to do. Did not care about being booted every minute. Just traded and had fun. Biggest amount of players on at that time seen by me
was 4. Mostly 1 or even 0. But the game changed rapidly. Freaknigh introduced old features from Dia and lots of new features in to it fast. Sats, plans and xp got back, new maps were
introduced, new ships, mark2, asteroids, fallen militia, traderbots. All fun!!!
Really a very good balanced game in which your skill of maths is tested to the best. Link: The Cybots website
Diaspora
The game suffered alot from cheaters and in june 2001 the game server was hacked. The game was never up again and is greatly missed. The ingame guilds
were pretty strong and survided on messageboards.
Realms of Kaos
Rillaspora
At this moment Rilla is the only game i visit still, because its the only one with good administrator as far as i can see.
My main char is in Iron Shield but no one else but Shantie is in that guild with me.
Endyspora
Xiaspora
Game is still unfinished, but is mature now. With around 50 players on each time, with lots of my old guildm8s.
I joined Black Nova with Striagg, Xanos and Pluto as guildleaders. Black Nova was part of a big Alliance and it seems we were allways in or between Galaxy Wars. Enemies like Black Plague,
Ruff Ryders, East Siderz and now The Darkside kept us busy. It seems Darkside decided that cheating was better then loosing and nearly destroyed the game that way (have I seen this before?). Lots of
good players left the game and only when Freaknigh decided to freeze some of the cheaters the game continued.
*** update *** The game becomes more and more balanced, cheaters are being banned and although they try to make a comeback every once in a while it is easier to play now. Andros ships have become a great new
feature and has given me new goals to seek. I tried to quit this game once...I found out I can't. It isn't the game, it are my friends.
In the meanwhile I am back where I belong, in Iron Shield guild. Still don't know how, but made it to second rank.
*** 2nd update *** Now the game is more balanced it suddenly lost its soul. Talks about reset in january 2003 make a lot of people leave. Without friends it is no fun playing. Enough still left to make it
interesting, but i can find most of them on msn too.
***3rd update*** Just before the reset all changed, everyone got same xp and free cash just to go fight each other. I dont like that part of the game, I am a builder not a fighter. So i left for Rilla
***4th update*** When almost all IS members left rilla we went back to Xia2, building up the guild again. Did not take me long to get an erinyes moth again and i even got an androsmoth. But then the hacking started, spoiling it all. I do not
trust that server again, so i stay away from it.
***5th update*** most bulgarians are now banned, game gets to be more playable.. altho still hardly on times I play. Shame the stats for andros ships are unbalanced atm.
Cybots