Have you ever lost your top when someone condescended to lecture you that you’re playing MMORPGs wrong? You and Roger at Contains Moderate Peril both, pal. In a recent essay, he goes off on those who would presume to lecture others that there is a “proper” way to play online games.
“Is there a definitive way to play an MMORPG?” he asks. “‘No’ is the brief answer. Sure, each MMO has a set of rules and procedures that set out a path of progression. However, nowhere in these rules will you find a statement saying it is mandatory to play this particular way. Humans like to adapt things to suit their own needs. Play is underpinned by imagination and creativity.”
Revolt against peer pressure and conformity! Raid in your skivvies! Roleplay as an omniscient tree stump!
The parade of MMO blog essays continue in today’s Global Chat, where writers talk about LOTRO band outfits, the lack of excitement over online game launches, being a frog in EverQuest II, and more.
Xam Xam Says: My ultimate SWTOR PvP wish list
“What kind of warzone would I like to see? I would really love to see a ‘capture the flag’ map in SWTOR. It’s basic and it’s a classic. You could easily add a more ‘Star Wars’ twist to it without making up a complicated ruleset. Hopefully, whatever the developers end up doing, the ruleset and parameters for the warzone should follow the ‘keep it simple, stupid’ mantra. That way we don’t have a repeat of Odessen Proving Grounds.”
Lina’s Biscuity Burrow: Why LOTRO music band uniforms make me chuckle
“LOTRO’s cosmetic system is one of its strengths, giving lots of options to create individual outfits for your character. Creating a uniform makes the band stand out from the crowd, keeps things tight-knit and helps build an identity for the players. Hence, LOTRO bands are likely to spend a fair bit of time agonizing over their costumes, before settling on the way they want to look. More often than not, the result is pretty much colourful and outrageous.”
I’m Not Squishy: EverQuest II — A frog in the city
“My favorite quest out here so far was given to me by a poet down on his luck. After getting his poems back from some pesky gnolls, he gave me a copy of his book to read. It started a quest where I have to visit each place he wrote a poem about. I’m enjoying this one because none of these places are labeled on the map and you have to figure out what they are based on this guy’s poem. I like that it forces me to be a little more observant of the world as I’m running around completing quests.”
GamingSF: Getting me interested in a new MMORPG
“Shadowrun Chronicles highlights very neatly one of the main attractions to games for me though — easy small group play. ‘Just let me play with my friends’ should be a mantra stuck on the monitor of every MMORPG dev’s computer as they code. Some games do this better than others, but fixed group sizes and levels being out of sync shouldn’t be a thing in 2017.”
I’m Not Squishy: Are launches exciting anymore?
“I understand that games are very expensive to make, especially massively multiplayer ones, and that crowd funding has the potential to raise enormous amounts of money. But when a game opens itself up before it’s finished it takes away the magic of when it is finished.”
Endgame Viable: Solving long DPS queues
“Here’s another idea: Tank and heal bots! If DPS has waited more than five minutes, give them some AI bots. It’s not like tanking or healing is hard. Zing! Hey-oh!”
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.
