Of course, with any game a small amount of luck is required. A bit of random chance always makes it interesting.

Most MMOs take it too far these days, though, by taking the attention off the player's abilities and putting the spotlight on what the character can do. That may be nice and all, but the feeling of joy seeing your level 99 Thief/Warrior/Pallidan/UberGodofDeathandDestruction wading through hordes of EvilGoblinTypeCreatures, causing a see of blood is empty...

When all your doing is clicking on the enemies to make your character attack. No offence to Diablo 2, but the only reason I liked it was for the campaign story. With MMOs these days, there is no campaign story, nothing to follow on. I've tried various MMOs, I have been beta testing them since 1999, but there were only two games that I ever thought twice about playing past beta.

And both these games had the focus, the spotlight, and the attention of other people not on your character... but your own abilities. I could wax on about one of the two, but we all know about Planetside. Which is still missing a key ingredient in any game.

Back in 2001, a little known game by a developer called NetDevil, out of Colorado, went into beta testing. While I did not get into the testing until the server stress test, my best friend was. The stories he told me of the game, how it worked... I wanted to play.

And so, I eventually joined the ranks of the beta testers of the MMO you never heard of through no fault of the developer, Jumpgate.

Why haven’t you heard of this game? It’s not because of bad quality of graphics. I am still astounded by the visuals in the game, one (FREE!) expansion and several years later.

It’s not because of anything wrong with the servers. Compared to other MMOs I've played on, heck, even comparing it to my IRC severs I've had less trouble with Jumpgate servers than most any other.

It’s not because of bad customer relations between the developer and the community. Short of a game that was made for a single community, I've never in my five years of playing games seen the developers and the players interact at this level of comradery - to the point where the developers and the GMs of Themis Group, a customer relations company hired by NetDevil when ND started work on Auto Assault, actually participate in player-run events, on even terms.

Its not because its a good engine, and just has a lack of a story to back up the WHY of the game. Jumpgate, again, is the only game I know off where the developers and GMs interact with the player base. Much of the in-character universe information effects and is affected by the player base. The players are very much involved with this aspect of the game, making Jumpgate a TRUE Massively Multiplayer Online ROLE playing game (As opposed to EverQuests ROLL playing game).

Its not because of massive bugs, or delays in patches. Until some specific problems that will result in a much larger patch for the month of June, Jumpgate's developers still on the project bring out two patches a month to help maintain balance in the game. Specific problems are addressed as soon as the devs are able to do so, slowed down only by addressing problems that had come up just prior.

Its not because anyone can just walk right in, '0\/\/n' everybody, then leave with a massive amount of people angry and frustrated. The key that made Jumpgate stick in my mind is the same that made Planetside stick in my mind. Jumpgate is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Space Simulation.

That’s right, a fighter simulator in space with a persistent universe. It takes some minor skill, easily learned, to fly the basics of moving from station to station, as well as docking manually (!) at each station. A roll of the die doesn’t resolve space combat. Its resolved by how accurate your aim is and how well you fly (And, to a lesser degree, your equipment - which isn't an issue as I will address below), not a random number generator with bonuses. Jumpgate also comes with a physics engine that simulates mass and inertia. It will take you time, depending on how massive your cargo and ship is, to slow down or to stop drifting when you turn.

You haven’t heard of Jumpgate, not because of the player base. While I may have problems with a few members, for the most part the player base of Jumpgate is the best, tight knit group. The honest sympathy I got for a personal loss, less than a month from me joining, touched me. Multiple sectors of space have been named for various players who have since shuffled off this mortal coil. Mokk's Battlefield is named for a European GM who died in a car accident. A system called 'The Chase' is a reference to a child of two players who died in a fire. The entire squad (With the support and assistance of nearly every player) of another player who died in an accident dedicated themselves to bringing that players account to the maximum level.

The player base of Jumpgate is also the most newbie-friendly community I've ever seen. The idea of 'There are no dumb questions' is widely followed when it comes to questions about how to play the game. People sometimes fight each other over who is closer to the new player who needs help. The idea of 'brokering', or having a higher level player buy equipment for a lower level player who has the money but not the level to buy it himself, was originally an exploit of the system, but has since been kept in and acknowledged as one of the signs of a healthy community.

No, you haven’t heard of Jumpgate due to any fault of its own. Jumpgate's publisher was 3DO, who really botched the publicity of Jumpgate. And when 3DO filed Chapter 11, what could NetDevil do?

They struck out on their own, and three years after the public release of Jumpgate they show no signs of slowing down.

And quite frankly, Jumpgate DESERVES publicity. While I might not be able to claim that I'm a Level 99 UBERGODOFDESTRUCTION and see my character slaughter creatures I'm clicking with a mouse cursor...

The satisfaction of knowing that it was ME who shot down Jumpgate’s version of EVILGOBLINSOFDOOM, the Conflux, and that people recognize it was my skill and not my characters level that killed them is much more gratifying.

And its not like all Jumpgate has to offer is fighting, either. I once tried to explain Jumpgate to a friend of mine. I said, "Its Freelancer on steroids, MMO, and with stuff to do besides fight." The Jumpgate universe has a real demand-based economy model (Currently under overhaul for the June patch - this one is the biggest fix to JG yet, in my opinion) that also allows for profitable (Both in terms of experience and credits) cargo hauling. Since equipment and commodities to make equipment often are produced at different stations, hauling is an important part of the economy.

Also important is mining. You can also (For experience and credits) mine asteroids for ore to provide raw materials to stations to make second and third tier commodities. Then there are also transport missions, transporting a specific item from one station to another, and scouting missions, which involve scanning anomalies (Actual objects in-space) or taking pictures of other stations.

Of course, Player versus Player action is also a big part of Jumpgate, not to minimize it at all. But because there are other viable things to do, Jumpgate isn't ONLY for combat as many people think at first glance.

Of course, you still have to pay a monthly fee, but at 9.99 a month Jumpgate is hardly expensive. Especially if you consider that an effective expansion, Episode 2: Attack of the Conflux, which introduced multiple new ships, new AI enemies, more space to explore, and player-owned stations came for free.

And because 3DO failed on their end, there are no boxed copies of Jumpgate available anymore. Instead, NetDevil has for free on their website (www.jossh.com) the full version of the game. All you need to do is download the game, register your account, pay $9.99, and you can play.

But is it worth the price, in the end? That is something I always ask myself, is it worth it to spend the $10 a month on a game I play? Specifically, this game, Jumpgate?

Despite its one flaw, a low player base due to EXTREMLY low publicity, my answer is, of course, a resounding yes.

Signed,

Henry J. Thiel

Jumpgate Player.