Gamertell

Gaia online is an awesome place to hang out and I know. I’m a Gaian too.

Recently I had the honor to play zOMG! during its testing phase and chatted with a few Gaians and Senior Producer Dave Georgeson about the new MMO.

When you first start the game you take a nice leisurely train ride into the Gaia online world of zOMG! That is until you realize the train is controlled by a computer that has malfunctioned. It won’t take long before you arrive safely at the train station for some training and then off on your own to explore the world. Just look out for those cute little fluffy clouds, green hamsters and garden gnomes. They can catch you by surprise if your not careful.

Overall the game is fun. Just ask Gaian Pauline Hapgood, 14 (aka “c_saw”)  who just registered on Gaia on November 22, 2008, and had been playing zOMG! for five hours when I found her doing a few quests near the town’s main water fountain area.

“So far I like the game,” Hapgood said. And when asked which part of the game was the most fun, she said “I liked cleaning out the sewers (the first quest you do when you start) and earning the rings that have powers in them, (I liked doing) the quest and also all the people. I like the game, (others will) gain a few hours (while playing) and earn Gaian gold which goes towards their Gaia account.”

zOMG!‘s senior producer, Dave Georgeson, said the user feedback he and his team have received have been mostly positive since the official open beta was released November 6, 2008.

“The player forums are full of feedback, and basically all the negative comments are in reference to bugs, which the team is working on non-stop to correct,” Georgeson said. “When the open beta first launched, the development team was busy ‘fighting fires’ (ie: dealing with server issues, etc.) but those ‘fires’ were quickly handled and now the team is focusing on adding new quests, watching players get into the game and reacting to player feedback. Some issues the team is working on now include adding quests and new features to eliminate the need for ‘grinding’ in certain zones once existing quests have been completed.”

My friend Jania Moudrak, 24, aka “GameTesterJan” has been a Gaian since 2007 and already has his own clan in zOMG! We started playing around the same time it was first released and already he’s fighting the final boss ... while I’m still wandering aimlessly low on health around in the zen garden hiding from garden gnomes and killer flamingos.

”zOMG! is a innovative MMORPG which runs directly through the web browser and does not require a download,” Moudrak said. “The game itself is very enjoyable and yes there is room for improvement but I have faith that it will continue to get better. I have already recommeneded the game to family and friends.”

Gaia members help improve the game by reporting any glitches or errors they find while they play according to Georgeson.

“Players were very successful in finding and reporting glitches in the game and the development team takes their feedback very seriously,” he said and added that the developers chose the 100 most important glitches to the players to fix and hope to correct the issues by the end of the year and work on the remaining glitches next year. “Programmers are (also) busy adding more quests, instances, features, plotlines, etc. While there are some items such as (player versus player modes) that they’d like to add soon, they are making sure to handle all the bugs and major issues from player feedback first, before adding more new features.”

Georgeson said with the upcoming new quests and features will come with a twist in the plotline since this year’s zOMG! is only chapter one of the story. The stories in my opinion are just as enjoyable as the game itself, while some people like my friend Moudrak loved the co-operative battles the most.

“I enjoy the narrative but the best part of gameplay is co-operative battles within a team. I am the clan leader of the zOMG! Elite! we have over 2,000 members so it’s a lot of fun to team up and share information or even trade/sell items,” he said and when asked his favorite moment in the game he said “I do not have a favourite moment, I suppose I would have one if it had in-game cutscenes or FMV’s. But I must admit that the hardest part of the game is the final boss Sealab X, Sealab X Body, Left Arm, Right Arm and then Sealab X Head. Although recently it has been made easier unfortunately this caused the deflation of the Sinster Scarf.”

Something to look forward to once I gain enough levels to at least put a dent in the flamingo’s beak. Just how many monsters are in the zOMG! world I wonder?

“There are hundreds, literally,” Georgeson responded. “In each zone there are at least three to four different ‘types’ of monsters, which branch off into multiple variations. All zones and areas are accessible now, but remember the plotline will be unfolding over time. There are around 20 zones total, not including one-room instances and battles.”

Whoa, that means lots and lots of monsters for Gaians to discover. I’m so toast if I don’t get into the game and level up.

I find the game very enjoyable, not too hard that it makes you want to put a size seven boot through the monitor but not too easy that its rather insulting to ones intelligence level. It’s a pretty decent game in my opinion and totally worth logging in and playing. If anything, the game is free if your trying to cut back on spending to save up for the after Christmas taxes and bills like I do.

According to Georgeson, there’s more to zOMG! than just the game that sets it apart from other MMOs.

“Many things… in particular, the ring system, which allows for more flexible gameplay than most MMO’s; the storyline, dialogue and characters are also much more fully-developed than in other online games; and zOMG! offers a long list of social content unique to Gaia Online,” he said. “Right now there are about two to three thousand players concurrently online. The servers can handle around 200-300 thousand players, so there definitely no server issues now. In Gaia Online, you can be a member of more than one “club,” but in zOMG! you can only belong to one “clan” (team) to give the development team more possibilities for the future (ie: mass pvp, battles, etc.) The programmers are building more tools and features for the clan system to make it more robust over the next few months.”

Something to look forward to if your breezing through zOMG! like Moudrak or just taking your time to enjoy the scenery like me. Georgeson said once all the bugs have been worked out Gaians will be able to enjoy the zOMG! 1.0 launch.

“It will be bigger, better, stronger and faster,” he said and hinted there is so much more to come in the next chapter.

Read [Gamertell] Site [zMOG! Overview] Site [Gaia Online]