Planet Calypso is in the process of wrapping up its epic multi-week Harbinger event, so Senior Staff Writer Chris "Pwyff" Tom went touring in Calypso to check out what this real-money MMO is all about.

Cultivating an economy like this is extremely important to First Planet Company, and this is why they are constantly working to ensure that everything continues to circulate within their MMO. It's fascinating to hear Frank Campbell, the Director of Marketing for First Planet Company, talk about some of the systems they've designed to take advantage of this game's unique economy. For example, there is an oil rig that First Planet Company has set up in the middle of a heavy PvP zone that pumps out free in-game units of oil at specific times in the day. Because the oil rig is right in the middle of a PvP zone, however, there have been dozens of well organized groups who have banded together to try to control this veritable fountain of money (one of the few "free" resources in the game). It certainly puts a different edge to your PvPing experience when you know that you're playing to earn a few bucks!

To move to more current matters (and really the focal point of our in-game touring), Planet Calypso is currently going through a massive multi-week "Harbinger event" that plays out more like a story arc than a simple event. Throughout this event, colonists on Planet Calypso will need to fend off a massive attack from some heavily armed robots. Directed by the military, we set off in some massive VTOLs (Vertical Take-off and Landing personal spacecrafts) to investigate this impending robot threat. After our brief investigations of a burned-out crash site and some ominous empty space pods, we were all sent up north to kick some robot butt.

Unfortunately, not too many robot butts were kicked on the day of this particular tour, as we quickly discovered that much of this new event content was tailored for Planet Calypso's content-hungry endgame populace who wanted something more immersive and storyline driven to go with their sandbox MMO. While we still managed to lure a few of the lesser mechanical peons to their doom (with the help of Frank's samurai sword), it was clear that this area was meant to be tackled by large raid groups of treasure hunters. Either way, it was a lot of fun to try out some different weapons lent to me by David and Frank as we attempted to take on large elite baddies that were probably well out of our league.

In the end, however, Planet Calypso does find its real strength in its huge social gaming potential. While there are probably thousands of MMO gamers who will assume that because they can't make thousand dollar purchases, they are automatically exempt from really enjoying all that Planet Calypso has to offer, they couldn't be further from the truth. Much of the fun of Planet Calypso stems from its rich economy and vibrant social scene; when you end up tying dollars to everything, it makes the overall game feel that much more immersive. Nothing says epic loot better than finding something that's worth $10!