TIGSource: Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online

Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online

Lorne Whiting — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:10:00 +0000

I don’t do enough around the site, so here’s an interview with Casey Flynn (AKA Lumin) of Faery Tale Online, a unique browser-based MMO that involves a lot more incest, fratricide, and thievery than its name implies. Some of the main hooks of the game are its unique birth system, coupled with a perma-death system, so player deaths have a lot more weigh than in a normal game, and its lack of premade history, so players create the whole world.

It’s got a lot of focus on role-playing, something I’m not too keen on, but the game’s approach to, well, being a game is too cool for me to not like it, even with the sizable wait just to be born.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Influenza

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:59:52 +0000

Moose, I really think you are missing nearly the entire point of the game. You can choose what name you TELL everyone… Same difference. It’s like rolling organically in a pen & paper game; It’s what you make of the stats, not what the stats are. It *is* about fun, just a different kind…

And, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the game is still fun in a lot of ways that real life isn’t. I expect to be able to do lots of stuff in game that I can’t do in real life. And best of all, when I die a horrible death I have a guaranteed reincarnation waiting for me. Yippie kai yay.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Moose

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:29:54 +0000

Same as any JRPG, except you actually get to play as your role rather than following a pre-scripted plot.

Um, not quite. The thing about those pre-scripted plots is that you know they’re pre-scripted so that your character turns out to rock, no matter how badly they start. With multiplayer unconstrained RPGs, you pretty much have to have stats that force your character to rock, because other people aren’t going to.

if Lumin decides to make FTO high-fantasy, you might see a lot of people getting trained in magic or some such. If he goes for low-fantasy, then it’ll be rare, with good reason.

Right, but there’s a difference between being rare because it’s challenging to get, and being rare because the game just randomly decides that you can’t be a wizard and the next person to log in can.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Jay

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:22:10 +0000

registration was a pain in the ass… whats with that totally unreadable captcha?

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by ninja

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:09:08 +0000

(cough) there are dog people (cough)

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by K

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:31:23 +0000

Pessimist.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Agiii

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:24:08 +0000

There are around 90 characters online so it should get faster on the fall.The queue that is.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by O

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:25:11 +0000

Yeah, a zerg race or something could be fun, too.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Satsuz

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:23:09 +0000

There should be a dog-like people, that can give birth to whole litters at once. Problem solved.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Ezuku

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:01:06 +0000

… … …

In 1 day, I’ve gone from 234 -> 233. At this rate, it’ll be 2010 before I can play. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool concept… but…

I dunno, make people give birth to quadruplets or something.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by crukid

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:50:48 +0000

Thanks, Karlito!

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Lorne Whiting

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:48:11 +0000

Just so you know, there were purges of inactive people before, and it cut out like 3/4th of the queue. It’ll probably happen again :]

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Karlito

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:46:57 +0000

I’m 267th in queue and hope I’m born a >female.

Currently the game assigns you the gender that you sign up with. You can change that any time before birth.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Durruti

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:02:44 +0000

Ugh. You can’t choose what character you want to play, you can’t even choose your NAME, and heaven forbid if you want to be a mage.

Same as any JRPG, except you actually get to play as your role rather than following a pre-scripted plot.

Besides, you can choose what kind of character you play, and your name, too. You’re a tiny bit more limited based on what race you’re born into, but there’s nothing preventing you from betraying your heritage and giving yourself a new name and all that. As for being a mage, I’m fairly certain that’s still up in the air; if Lumin decides to make FTO high-fantasy, you might see a lot of people getting trained in magic or some such. If he goes for low-fantasy, then it’ll be rare, with good reason.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by crukid

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:14:59 +0000

I’m 267th in queue and hope I’m born a female. It will be my goal to be pregnant as often as possible. My long term goal is to create a factory with an assembly line of fertile females deep within a mountain labrynth.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by protobob

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:24:48 +0000

I’ve always thought the whole idea of birth and families and stuff would be an interesting experiment to try out.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Moose

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:18:33 +0000

It might, but it might give them an easy in. If I wanted to grief this game, my first priority would be to attack child-bearing female PCs to keep the queue huge.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Solved

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:43:31 +0000

Although I’m probably going to be waiting years to be born :(, I think the waiting time at least will help keep some trouble makers out. Plus, I guess in the future, when there are more people in game there will be more babies being born. Unless everyone dies out.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Turgid

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:05:12 +0000

Looks a lot like Cantr, another free browser MMO heavily focused on roleplaying and community. But in that one you don’t have to wait to be born.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Moose

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:54:06 +0000

You know, they must have REALLY accelerated pregnancies or it’s going to take a LONG while for Adam and Eve to be that busy. :)

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Solved

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:48:07 +0000

I love this message, “Your position in the birth queue is: 272”

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Solved

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:44:32 +0000

I’m going to check it out, the family system sounds interesting, I can see how it will help a new player get help, advice and get involved in the community quicker. I can also see how it might be a complete waste of time.

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Moose

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:25:26 +0000

Ugh. You can’t choose what character you want to play, you can’t even choose your NAME, and heaven forbid if you want to be a mage. Ugh. Horrible shades of Castle Marrach. When are game designers going to understand that games are meant to be fun in the ways that real life isn’t?

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Craig Stern

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:46:09 +0000

Is this in any way affiliated with The Faery Tale Adventure?

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Zwobot

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:11:09 +0000

incest

stopped reading there and headed straight to the website to sign up

"Interview with Casey Flynn of Faery Tale Online" by Smurf

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:31:47 +0000

Apparently they are still building races into the game. Clearly what they need is a race of cave-dwelling spider monkeys. They would build elaborate steampunk devices in the towers of their pitch-black cities, which are nestled comfortably amidst the stalactites (the ones on the ceiling) of huge caverns. Let’s make this happen.