GemStone IV - Misplaced Pages

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GemStone IV is a text-based role-playing game (often known as a MUD) produced by Simutronics. Players control characters in a High Fantasy game world named "Elanthia." The first playable version of the game was known as GemStone II and was launched in April 1988 on GEnie. It was one of the first MMORPGs and is one of the longest running online games still active. Access is subscription-based with a monthly fee.

Technical Information

GemStone IV is a text-based game built on Simutronics' proprietary engine, the IFE (Interactive Fiction Engine). This engine is capable of changing nearly any aspect of the game on the fly which allows updates without the necessity for downtime, a problem of many graphical RPGs. Due to the use of the IFE, GemStone is rarely taken offline, giving a 24-hour uptime cycle aside from the occasional game crash.

There are several official interfaces to the game, as well as several unofficial ones. The oldest interface for Windows is called the "Wizard Front End" and offers several useful features such as status readouts, macros, and limited scripting abilities. The Wizard has since been superseded with the "StormFront" Front End introduced in 2003. StormFront offers several additional extensions to the game, including a "point and click" interface that allows one to click on text within the game and bring up action menus applicable to that portion of text. The Java FE and a browser-based version named "eScape" are less popular alternatives. A Wizard (similar to the Windows version) also exists for Macintosh Classic, while a Front End named "Avalon" is available for Mac OS X. No official Linux client exists.

However, the GemStone interface is simply a text stream, and the game can be played with a Telnet interface after authentication. Several players have written custom front ends for their own purposes, while others have written novelty clients on handheld devices.

Current Status

GemStone IV is currently available through its website for a monthly access fee. A standard account currently costs $14.95 a month, with two additional subscriptions types available. The Premium service is available for $39.95 a month and has additional features over the basic account, including more character slots and increased in-game storage capacity, as well as Premium-only special events. An additional subscription level known as "Platinum" allows access to a different instance of the game with more staff interaction, and costs $49.95 a month.

A typical evening at "prime time" may see 300 players online at once, with more signing on during special events. There are usually at least 100 players online at any given time of day, although some may be away from their keyboard and not actively playing. There is typically at least one staff member online at any time of day, and several at a time during the afternoon and evening.

History

GemStone was first demonstrated to GEnie in 1987 before Simutronics was officially incorporated. It was only used as a demonstration model and was never available to the general subscribers. GemStone II was released in April 1988 to GEnie customers. However, GemStone II was very short-lived, and GemStone III went into open beta testing in December 1989, officially launching on February 1, 1990. The transition from "II" to "III" maintained significant portions of the environment, but not all, and character records were not maintained over the transition, requiring all players to begin anew. GemStone III evolved into GemStone IV in November 2003, but the game world and character records were maintained over the transition. Gemstone III was promoted on GEnie by promising players the opportunity to receive real-life versions of gems found in-game, something that persisted for many years.

GemStone originally operated with a license to use the Rolemaster game mechanics and Shadow World environment from Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE). In 1995, Simutronics and ICE agreed to let the business relationship expire, necessitating the removal of all ICE intellectual property from GemStone. Many of the game changes were simply renaming ICE names, such as changing the world name from Kulthea to Elanthia, and renaming the deities while keeping their previous characteristics.

Game mechanics were greatly changed with the de-ICEing (as the period is colloquially named), which required every game character to undergo significant changes. Character racial and class choices were also changed, making any direct translation between the two systems difficult. The end result was that every character was required to "re-roll" their character with the option to change race and skills, but maintaining their old experience level, class, and equipment.

GemStone became available on AOL in September, 1995, just after the de-ICEing process. Shortly thereafter, it became available on CompuServe and Prodigy as well. When AOL switched to flat-rate pricing, GemStone did over 1.4 million customer-hours in a single month, while the number of simultaneous users could rise above 3000 during prime time. Simutronics launched a web portal in 1997, and started phasing customers off of the online services and onto the web interface, although it would take several years before the last of the online service portals were closed.

The number of subscribers has slowly been declining since the move to the web. However, GemStone still maintains a healthy playerbase, with a large group of players remaining active for years. There is at least one remaining player from GemStone II and many others who have been playing for more than ten years.

Awards and achievements

1998 Finalist, Online Game of the Year, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences
December 1996, AOL Members' Choice Award

References

External links

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