Is the infamous “chainmail bikini” slowly disappearing from western RPGs and MMOs? Pete at Dragonchasers thinks that it is… and he kind of laments the change.
“I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who likes them but I’m not going to out anyone,” he writes. “Instead I’m wondering if there’s a way to save sexy outfits without continuing to offend the folks who are not fans. I want everyone to be happy gaming and if that means more conservative clothing, so be it. But maybe we can find a way for everyone to be happy.”
We’ve got a special year-end edition of MMO blog posts for you to enjoy today, including an examination of facial wrinkles in SWTOR, the top five problems of EVE Online, and socialism in MMOs!
Ravalation: The many salty faces of the Eternal Throne
“The looks of characters have been updated with cool effects like wrinkles and the facial expressions in the cinematics are better than ever before. The skin texture of main characters have been significantly improved; it’s a huge difference from where SWTOR started five years ago. In general, we are promised more expressiveness in characters’ faces.”
Killed in a Smiling Accident: And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
“I mentioned in the 10th anniversary post that The Division was a fine game that got rather repetitive in its endgame, and that I ought to have a look at the most recent update. Like healthy eating and regular flossing it was more of a vague intention than a firm commitment; I’d briefly popped back to check out the previous Underground DLC that added some randomised subterranean roaming, but it hadn’t proved terribly compelling.”
The Ancient Gaming Noob: Top five problems with EVE Online
“So the game has a reputation built on some bad events and enhanced by a legion of people who hate the game… or who hate the idea of the game, because they’ve clearly never logged in… and who clog up comment threads on gaming sites whenever a story about the game runs.”
Lvl-42.com: My perennial problems with World of Warcraft
“Over the years, the hubris of Blizzard has exponentially increased. It’s not uncommon for Blizzard to tell players what’s fun and what isn’t fun… independently of how players actually want to play.  Then they ignore players when it’s clear they were wrong until the angst reaches a fever pitch (and they get lots of unsubs because of it).”
Psychochild: Socialism in MMOs
“Turning this topic to game design a bit, how does this socialist perspective fit in? I wrote earlier this year about designing away the economy by replacing currency with a stat. I think this would further the socialist bent of MMO economies, where someone with a high wealth stat could more easily help a newbie without great cost to themselves. The person with a high wealth stat could help acquire items for the newbie that they couldn’t hope to acquire themselves.”
GamingSF: How reckless are you when playing MMORPGs?
“I realised upon reflection that when playing solo I’m pretty cautious as I play. It’s not that the game has a particularly strong death penalty, but I do care about my characters, and I’m not inclined to risk a character death without a very good reason.”
Every day there are tons of terrific, insightful, and unusual articles posted across the MMO gaming blogosphere — and every day, Justin reads as many as he can. Global Chat is a sampling of noteworthy essays, rants, and guides from the past few weeks of MMO discourse.
