Over in Everquest II, they’re trying an experiment at the moment – what’s that? Yes, Everquest II. People are> still playing it. The original as well. I know, I’m surprised too, but never mind. Specifically, they’ve created a prison server called Drunder. The idea is that instead of banning trolls, griefers and cheaters (presumably up to a certain point), they can simply throw all the troublemakers in server jail and let them play together with no possibility of escape. Nothing can possibly go wrong! If you want to indulge in the anarchy then you can request to be sent there, but again, it’s a one way trip for your account. Has Daybreak finally discovered the ultimate fix for bad online behaviour, though? Let’s ask our special ethics correspondent, a snowball in Hell.

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Well, while we wait, I thought it’d be fun to take a look at how a few other RPGs have decided to have a little fun with their dodgier elements, both online and off.

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Adding 16 free lots of new quests, items, outfits and modes to a game which already had a hundred million things> in it was an ostensibly generous move from the creators of The Witcher 3 [official site]. But how substantial is this stuff, really? I took a look at what’s really in each DLC, how satisfying it is, and where in the Northern Kingdoms you can find it all.

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it’s 2015: if you’re not streaming your game while you play it, you will be summarily asked to leave society. Don’t you dare try to play a game by yourself any more. Privacy is dead: everyone wants an audience, always and forever. Do you want to watch me shower? No? Well, how about watch me ineffectually flail at a pack of Nekkers in The Witcher 3? No? Well, how about you take remotely control and fight those Nekkers for me, to put everyone involved out of their misery. NVIDIA have, in theory, a way to make that happen. … [visit site to read more]

The Witcher games are set in an ending era, the world of magic and wonder dying out as humans trash everything. Killing its most exotic monsters – who usually only cause trouble when humans move into their habitat – can be tragic. And what’s the use of Geralt and his witcher pals once the last monster is slain? Well, he can reset the world and start all over again keeping his shiny trinkets.

The promised New Game+ mode for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt [official site] has arrived in its sixteenth and final free bit of ‘DLC’.

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A parkouring post-apocalyptic open-world isometric RPG inspired by Thief and made in collaboration with a team including former Witching folks from CD Projekt RED is a confusing pitch (open-world RPG inspired by Thief?), but one with interesting elements. That’s the broad idea of Seven [official site], which developers IMGN.PRO (them lot behind iffy Sean Bean horror Kholat) announced this morning.

At the moment they don’t have much more than some words and concept art to show, and I can’t imagine what the game will actually be like, but it might pique your interest.

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No massively intricate and complicated fantasy RPG is complete without spending four hours selecting the mods you want to layer on top of it first. CD Projekt Red know this and have just released The Witcher 3 [official site] mod tools in partnership with Nexus Mods. This means not only can you grab the tools from Nexus, but their mod manager – which has been a mainstay of Bethesda modding for years – now supports The Witcher 3 as well.

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In a move that can only mean they’ve been receiving my daily letters recreating The Witcher [Official Site] for someone whose heart will only recognise games pre-1995, CD Projekt Red are teaming up with the company behind Cyberpunk 2020 to bring The Witcher to tabletops.

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Wednesday is Free Witcher 3 [official site] Day, and this week is due to bring the last of its sixteen planned freebies. What oh what could it- oh, no, it won’t be coming this week. Still, developers CD Projekt RED have announced what the final titbit will be, and it’s a good’un: a New Game+ mode.

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Many games suffer from a little bit of distance. You play them and they seem great, but once the novelty has faded, so has part of their soul. I’d say Dragon Age: Inquisition is a good example there. It’s a game I enjoyed, but it’s also one I’ve not really thought about since its credits rolled.

With The Witcher III: Wild Hunt [official site] though, the scale of CD Projekt’s accomplishment still hasn’t fully sunk in, and probably won’t until the next big RPG that doesn’t live up to the many, many amazing bits of design that game offers. I’m of course talking of the big stuff, like its sweeping plot and open world. More though, I’m thinking of the details; the smaller stuff, like how the scripting system is advanced enough to stop a fight after a specific comment of “Wait, you’re Geralt?!” or the exquisite attention to detail on even the smallest of quests. It’s CD Projekt’s masterpiece; the Witcher experience they’ve been working towards since getting the license all those years ago.

And now it’s been out for a while, let’s look at some of the more spoilery bits.

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There has been a lot of discussion recently in games about historical accuracy. We ve seen a number of articles debating the absence of people of color in The Witcher 3 as well as essays criticizing Apple s decision to remove games featuring the Confederate battle flag from the App Store. Most of this discussion treats historical accuracy as something close to gospel, beyond reproach or change. There were never> people of color in the medieval, Eastern European milieu from which The Witcher is drawn. There were always> Confederate battle flags in the American Civil War. For most people, using never and always with regard to history seems natural. If any field of knowledge can offer such certainty, it must be history, right?

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