Dictionary: fence sitter
n. Informal.
One who takes a position of neutrality or indecision, as in a controversial matter.
Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a fence-sitter. Every time I see a negative post about Darkfall Online (err, the easiest to find are probably over here), I see something positive written about it a day later. I was convinced not to try the game… and then I was convinced to give a shot. Hell, even half the commenters over here aren’t overly generous when it comes to discussing the game. And then again, the other half seem to swing the other way.
Either way, Darkfall appears to be making people think, and generating a pretty good chunk of discussion and controversy, which I generally consider a good thing™, no matter what side of the fence you fall off on. To be sure, Darkfall is a relatively small release with a reasonably compact (yet vocal) community. I don’t know how quickly that’ll change, either, considering sales of the game are currently “on hold” (from what I’ve heard.) It’s not all that encouraging that the game’s official news page doesn’t have a single mention of the status of new orders. Hmph.
At this point, my head is swiveling back and forth like a spinning top and I’m willing to give Darkfall the benefit of the doubt. And damn Keen for posting objective, entertaining reviews of the game in bite-sized, easy to digest morsels. He’s obviously much too skilled at this whole MMO blogging deal. His last batch of screenshots even makes it look relatively decent! Seriously, he’s doing a better job of marketing the game than Aventurine’s own PR department. Time to consider a career change?…
(Although it does remind me a little of Dark Age of Camelot, circa 2001. Not only in the visuals, but in the general MMO new-car-smell vibe.)
For shame. And we all thought Darkfall looked like crap, right? Apparently not. Well, I guess I’ll just sit here on my fence, until I get a chance to give this enigmatic game a shot. And after I read a few more (objective) reviews.
3 comments
I’m actually starting to sit the fence more as well. And in particular because of Keen’s blog. I doubt it would pull me away from WAR, but it does look interesting. Maybe I’ll give it a go when they start offering free trials ;)
And yes, those landscapes are vastly superior to previous pictures, though the character models still look like crap. Perhaps the biggest draw is being able to talk to all the Norwegians in their broken English, “Ya, we share camp friendly, yes?”
Haha, I was in Finland last fall for a workshop and their English was definitely better than that on average. Maybe Norwegians have sub-par English levels compared to the rest of their Scandinavian brethren… although I don’t want to be accused of stereotyping. ;)
Yeah, I think as long as you can get over the kiddies who are bound to be all over the place in any kind of full-on PvP game (à la Shadowbane, etc.), and the item/gear loss (which doesn’t see all that bad if you plan for it), it looks like it has some redeeming qualities to it that might be a change of pace from the games I’m playing right now.
Now as soon as they re-open registrations…
I am playing Darkfall. I am also playing WAR and WoW. I haven’t logged into WAR or WoW since Darkfall launched. My friends and I are having a blast with the game.
I am really surprised about how much I am enjoying this game. It is very different than WAR and WoW, and I say it is worth checking out. Most of the negativity that I have encountered, towards Darkfall, are from people that aren’t playing it.