Ikariam Review
Browser based gaming has seen a lot of growth over the past few years. With internet access almost everywhere, and desk jobs aplenty, you need not go more than a few cubicles down to find a fellow web gamer.
A lot of the perks to online gaming is not only are they easily accessed due to the fact that they usually don’t require a download, but more often than not they’re free. This has allowed several companies and producers like, Jagex and Armour Games to grow in stature in the online gaming community.
One game that has earned some attention is the Real Time Browser based game, Ikariam, developed by a company out of Germany, by the name of GameForge. They’ve released several games such as, Evony, WarpFire, OGame, and several other big name titles; all of which have taken off and grown quite a bit over the past couple years.
Ikariam itself is staged during The Bronze Age around 1400 BC or so. As the player, you manage your own empire, through both economics and military. The game is dynamic in its longevity and causal experience. With it being set amongst several thousand players per server, the game will continue even after logging out. This allows you to continue research, trading, or building even when away from your computer. A player can control the local market and economy via trade. Or they can rule their area of influence through military might. Ikariam allows you to play how you wish to play… whether it be as pirate or merchant.
The game offers a lot of interaction with other real world players and the GameForge staff as well; being coupled with a large Forum and a very involved and friendly staff, it’s easy to make friends and get any questions you may have answered.
Overall the drama and player to player interaction is the highlight of the Ikariam experience, the players control the ebb and flow of the game. You can choose to immerse yourself in the game as much as possible or play as casually as one would wish. And compared to other browser based games, Ikariam is unique in its experience. It has the endurance as a game to be played for years, thanks to developers and to the Ikariam community. I personally recommend Ikariam to anyone out there that enjoys RTS based gaming; GameForge has done a superb job in growing the community and I believe will continue to do so.
Based from other online games, Ikariam scores 4 out of 5 stars. Thanks to the community and the longevity of the game itself. Apart from its slow start and a couple bugs, the game is overall an excellent example of a successful browser based game… and a free one no less.
I recommend keeping an eye on companies like GameForge, as I hope to see other high caliber releases like Ikariam.
Just a warning to those who are curious on this game: Do NEVER ever spend real money on ambrosia! At least not until you are pretty sure you know every little intricate detail of the game rules.
I was playing together with some friends, and unfortunately we decided to help out one in the team by sending material to him. The mistake was to do that while we where on the same network (behind the same firewall), which according to the game rules is illegal. If we had done it while sitting on different networks, it would have been legal according to their rules.
We all got permanently banned, without any warning, and lost quite a lot of ambrosia (and money). Them keeping the money makes me question the ethical values of the company behind the game (Gameforge AG).
And the dumbest thing, according to the “support” people: We can create new accounts and then spend more money on those… yeah right. :-/
Ha, that actually happened to Lepka about a year and a half ago as well. Now, he didn’t spend any money on ambrosia, but he did get banned for sending on the same network. Which doesn’t make any sense, because it should be a game you play with friends, and what happens if you all live in the same dorm, or apartment complex where the wifi is free?
It’s definitely a weak policy in place, and I wish they would raise it off!
I Actually worked for GameForge for about a year. And the rules, like this one for example, are there just to catch multi-account users… Which is essentially cheating the game.
While I don’t agree that the users should be banned immediately without warning (believe me I’ve argued against this rule for years, all over the boards) they’re actually there to make sure the users are all on the same playing field and no one is abusing the system.
And as part of playing the game you must acknowledge the terms and conditions, which state the rules, and laws of both the game, the company, and the country in which they’re based out of. And in the rules it states that IP Sharing is LEGAL… However Fleet Contact is not. Which is where you can get in trouble.
As Ty said, even I, who worked for GF was banned… And sadly, it’s just part of the rules.
@Lepka: Did they ever talk about using the game mechanics to regulate the game? To me it looks like they create written rules, and then ban people, just because it is easier/cheeper than updating the game mechanics…
I also see discussions on the Ikariam boards about what they can do to keep players around. I would say “not banning them” would be a good way. On the zeta world (on .org), more than 50% of the bans are due to issues that should be regulated within the game itself. Oh well.
Well the only “mechanics” they could adjust for IP sharing… Is setting it up so that only one account can be made per IP.
And as I’m sure you know that would not only frustrate a lot of players, but it would also take away a lot of the GForge business as well. The and it seems the only way GF would be able to do something as drastic like that is to wipe the slate clean, and clear off all of the worlds servers.
Also, to make it clear Ikariam is still in it’s Beta stage… Which is why you have some drastic in game changes like the entire combat system being rewritten in 3.3. So they aren’t where they plan on being even a year from now.
I don’t agree with the aggressive banning, and I was personally pushing for a rewrite on the boards, and I had a lot of discussions with the .com admins.
And again… they still have some changes to do as they’re still in Beta
Well, a popup that warns you about the rules when you tries to send materials to someone else on the same IP, would help a lot. They also have rules regulating trading, and those could easily have been implemented in the game code…
I doubt it’s that simple, I’m not sure about you, but personally I’m not a game developer. And I’m not entirely sure it would be as easy as writing a simple code that scans IP’s each time you trade resources.
And as I mentioned earlier… Fleet Contact is part of the rules. And believe it or not, as a player in Ikariam, you agreed to follow the rules, or otherwise be banned. Which happens.
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