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Face of Mankind

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Face of Mankind
File:Fomlogo.JPG
Developer(s)Duplex Systems
Publisher(s)None
Designer(s)Marko Dieckman
EngineLithTech Jupiter
Platform(s)Windows
ReleaseCanceled (Possibly Returning)
Genre(s)MMO/FPS
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Face of Mankind is a defunct first and third person massively multiplayer online roleplaying game set in a futuristic persistent world. The game was played from a variety of points of view. It was designed to emphasize roleplay and community, using a faction system and player-driven politics.

Players interact with each other in a freeform universe, consisting in a series of locations spread across various planets. Major roleplaying-based storylines, purely optional, are started and run by Duplex staff. Players in a position of power may also affect gameplay by setting a faction's agenda, creating long-term political, economic, or military goals, which are broken up into missions handed down through a faction's hierarchy in the form of player generated and driven missions.

Released in March 2006 after a lengthy beta starting in 2004; in November 2007, publisher Ojom withdrew support for the game.[2] Duplex Systems shut down the game's servers in order to restructure it and relaunch as Face of Mankind: Rebirth.[3] On June 30, 2008 Duplex Systems announced the cancellation of Face of Mankind: Rebirth, citing financial problems. On 8 October 2008, Duplex Systems announced via the face of mankind website that the game would be "coming back soon".[4]

Gameplay

Face of Mankind is a science fiction-themed MMORPG playable in either first or third person and centering on role play, community and a completely player-driven economy. Face of Mankind also bears the distinction of being the first MMOG of its kind to utilize a player-generated mission system. This is handled by highly ranked players who create missions which are then split and handed down through the player hierarchy. The ultimate goal of individual players, however, is to develop their characters (Combatant, Commander, Medic or Trader) to the greatest heights of wealth, power, social status, or a combination thereof.

The game world is an ever evolving one, with the game’s staff regularly starting new story arcs and the skills and luck of players within each clan shifting the balance of power. PvP in Face of Mankind is unique in that it is up to the players to police themselves for the most part. Some players may choose to act as in-game law enforcement, but others may choose a profitable criminal path. No place in this MMO’s game world is entirely safe, although some areas are more safe than others. Faction versus Faction warfare can flare up at anytime, with potentially hundreds of faction members fighting and effecting dramatic change of world order.

Character professions

There are four character professions, each with its strengths and weaknesses:

Combatant

The combatants are a faction's muscle. They provide military firepower to get the task done, and have no weapon or armour restrictions. This is a generic profession, and most new players start as a combatant by choice. They are only limited by faction restrictions.

Commander

Commanders have the ability to create their own squads of men. These squads help increase communication between players, and a squad HQ can also be purchased to be used as a meeting place. The Global Dominion Factions use squads to increase efficiency in patrolling areas. The Clan Factions use these squads for the Cells and Clans within the faction. Corporate Factions create mining and production squads to increase efficiency and profitability. Commanders play a key role within the game. Note that squads can be created only by a Rank 2 or higher. Commanders can use the minimap on a larger zoom setting(4x) than other players, as well as allowing commanders of Rank 3 or higher to see all other faction members as green dots on the map. They can also see all players of an allied faction, whereas players of other professions only see mission team members. If a commander leads the mission he and every soldier in the mission will get an experience bonus equal of 15%.

Medic

Medics are responsible for healing injured comrades before, during, and after battles. They can wear up to level 5 armor, use any type of medical equipment, and wield a limited selection of low-grade weaponry. After all, they have a support role, and it is the duty of the combatants to protect them.

Trader

Traders are the economic workhorses of their organization. They supply their chosen faction pool with equipment, but can also produce their own items for trade on the market. This enables them to get rich quickly, although it does have its drawbacks in that they can only use the basics themselves, their main objective being to provide items for use by others in more specialised roles.

Economy

One of Face of Mankind's draws is the economic system. It has an entirely player driven economy; prices fluctuate in relation to supply and demand. Naturally this makes the market, consisting of armour, weapons, ammunition, clothing, medical supplies and other such items, fairly competitive.

Mining

Mining is the beginning of the process for all production. Mining terminals are located on all offworld colonies. Each location has a limited number of resources of various qualities. To mine materials, select it from a displayed list. Energy and coolant levels may be adjusted for more efficient production, and also affects the cost. When on basic mining missions (faction missions, auto-generated missions for traders), the "Faction Mining" choice is available. When using faction mining, all mining costs are paid from the faction treasury, and the materials produced must be either placed in the faction pool or used to make more complex faction items.

Refining

Refining is the intermediate step in the production process. Raw materials may be refined into compounds or alloys, which are then used to make finished products. All refining is done on production terminals, using specific refinement processes for specific minerals. The refinement process works in a manner similar to that of mining, where energy and coolant levels may be adjusted for efficiency and cost.

Production

This is the final step, and results in the creation of a finished, usable product. This process requires an investment in a Production Module (or PMod). These are expensive, and are limited to use at the location that they are purchased. They allow for the creation of one type of item, at all quality levels. The requirements in minerals and refined materials is listed when the module is viewed at a production terminal. The process is the same as mining and refining, where energy and cooling levels are set to determine the time and expense.

Faction Pool

Each faction has a "pool". This pool is essentially shared storage for weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies for any player within that faction. To limit abuse of the system by greedy members, the faction leaders can limit the number of pool items these members can have within their personal inventory.

Faction pool items are made by the trader classes within the faction. Traders that undertake production or mining missions to supply the pool find that the expenses are covered by the faction. Other character classes can also add their personal items to the faction pool by use of the storage terminal.

History and Important Changes

  • Closed Beta testing started in April 2004, and the first phase of Open Beta started in February 2005. The second phase of Open Beta testing ran from December 2005 to March 23, 2006, ready for the launch on March 27, 2006.
  • Face of Mankind was shipped for retail sale on 31 August 2006; both downloadable and retail versions were available.
  • The Face of Mankind official portal was hit by a series of DoS attacks during the month of May 2007; The attacks made the official portal unavailable throughout the month. These attacks were cited as playing a part in the eventual closure of Face of Mankind as a financial venture. The perpetrators were eventually arrested after an investigation by the Scotland Yard Computer Crime Unit [5]
  • On November 2nd, 2007, Face of Mankind publisher Ojom ceased support for the development and operation of the game. Duplex announced an attempt to continue the game without a publisher; further news and developments were announced on November 13th, 2007, detailing how Duplex is going to be reworking the game mechanics in order to be able to fund it. [2]

Around June 23rd, 2008[1], Marko Diekmann declared on the official website that development of Face of mankind Rebirth has been cancelled. He is now pursuing another game under Duplex called Nanoverse Online. Little is known about the game, other than a small synopsis gleamed from the page source on the main website:

"Nanoverse is an epic science-fiction based massively multiplayer online game in a microcosmos, a persistent world where thousands of players world-wide can build their own nanobots and compete with each other."[2]

As of October 4th, Duplex Systems has changed again the image on the Face of Mankind website to state Face of Mankind, Coming Back Soon in a possible attempt to deter people moving to an emulator recently released for the game.

References

  1. ^ Face of Mankind Rebirth Player's: DevBlog003
  2. ^ a b Face of Mankind: Rebirth : Face of Mankind: Rebirth for PC News at MMORPG.COM
  3. ^ Article on Ojom withdrawing support and funding
  4. ^ Face of Mankind: Rebirth - The new multiplayer experience
  5. ^ The Register article on the DDoS perpetrator being reprimanded

Reviews

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