for science
Vague Patch Notes: Why do people remember an MMO past that didn’t exist?
Let's just start with the premise out of the gate. World of Warcraft launched to sales of 240,000 units on its first day. The...
Raph Koster predicts the future of the metaverse is a ‘virtual Machu Picchu’ – that you can leave
If you're not exhausted of seeing the word "metaverse" just yet, MMORPG developer Raph Koster has published a blessedly brief whitepaper on the evolution...
For Science: Crit-Rate is another survey-driven attempt to match gamer personalities to games
I have to admit I almost deleted the press release for this story without reading it, but my finger twitched, and let me tell...
Could an AI bot do a better job as a games company CEO than an actual human?
That headline's not an idle question: Chinese gaming company NetDragon decided to give it a try. Last August, NetDragon, which runs multiple MMOs including...
The Daily Grind: Do you experience MMO ‘expansion endorphins’?
Back in December, MOP's Justin wrote an article about being excited to play World of Warcraft Dragonflight, and in that piece, he wondered whether...
Leaderboard: Do you prefer first-person or third-person perspective while gaming?
Quantic Foundry, the team behind the Gamer Motivation Model and the modern gamer profiling test, put out a dev blog at the end of...
GDC’s State of the Games Industry survey once again demonstrates dev skepticism for metaverse and blockchain hokum
This year's State of the Game Industry from GDC - its 11th since beginning the project - delivers a range of insights from the...
For Science: New research tries to link game choices, soft skills, and career paths
I suspect most long-time MMORPG gamers can point to a useful skill, contact, or experience in gaming that helped them in their careers or...
A look back at the MMO and gaming science topics of 2022
It's hard to believe, but 2022 is actually the eighth year in a row we've been tracking science stories relevant to the MMO genre....
Activision-Blizzard releases its year-to-date diversity statistics showing an increase in underrepresented groups
Activision-Blizzard's general issues with diversity and representation have prompted a number of changes within its corporate structure, and one of those is the company's...
For Science: New study finds positive association between excessive gaming and kids’ cognition
Academics offered up another good reason to play video games this past October: A new study of around 2000 kids found that video game...
Lawful Neutral: How extremism and terrorism slither into online gaming
Back in 2014, something happened in the gaming space, something whose impact was so damaging that even almost 10 years later, I realize that...
Riot Games sponsors design challenge centered on making online spaces safer
Riot Games is not a gaming company most folks in our industry would consider a paragon of community in or off the court. The...
US Department of Homeland Security issues a nearly $700K grant to research extremism in gaming
There are toxic people in games chat, and then there are people who use video gaming platforms as a ways to encourage extremism and...
Bloomberg’s Twitch report exposes a platform rife with children and predators
Bloomberg has a deeply disturbing exposé this week on Twitch that demonstrates how the streaming platform intended for video games is being used by...
Star Stable launches new charity initiative to counter negative ‘horse girl’ stereotypes
A few weeks back I joked on the MOP podcast that I'm a secret horse girl, and it's true in real life and in...
EVE Echoes launches a Project Discovery science initiative, EVE Online preps for next Alliance Tournament
Regular players of EVE Online are likely very familiar with the game's Project Discovery "citizen science" initiatives that let players help out scientific research,...
Axie Infinity CEO caught shuffling $3M in the game’s crypto tokens before announcing its $620M hack
No matter how decentralized cryptocurrencies claim to be, there's always going to be a paper trail to follow, and one such trail was left...
EVE Online’s Fanfest data dump shows a surprisingly wide range of player types
EVE Online is going full science fair mode with the release of a whole suite of fancy graphs and data collected and presented during...
For Science: New research affirms online friends provide emotional and informational support
You've probably seen the declaration that "online friends are real friends" somewhere on the internet a few times, and while that can seem pretty...
