One Shots: Your moment of zen
When life -- and even gaming -- gets too hectic, where do you retreat to in order to find some peace and quiet? We...
The Game Archaeologist: Terra, SubSpace, and Sovereign
In the MMO industry, science fiction has always taken the role of the overlooked little brother to big sister fantasy's popularity. Sure, there have...
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s mysterious Hrothgar text has no good explanation
It was just supposed to be a minor patch for Final Fantasy XIV and it's touched off a huge flurry of confusion. Someone in the...
Tamriel Infinium: The many breeds of Elder Scrolls Online’s cat people, the iconic Khajiit
In the real world, I am not a cat person. Actually, I'm not a pet person. But in video games, I collect minipets, tame...
Vague Patch Notes: On play conditioning and the lecture of experience in MMOs
Yes, it's another week in which we talk about abstract concepts that underpin the way we play video games, this time inspired by a...
Perfect Ten: 10 MMOs I’m optimistic about in 2019
It's still early enough in 2019 to do articles about the upcoming year, right? Well, I'm doing this one anyway, so if it's too...
Reverse Engineering: The science of Elder Scrolls Online’s dragons
I don't think I can express how excited I am to bring this column to life on Massively Overpowered. Reverse Engineering covers the one...
Choose My Adventure: Further bear adventures in The Elder Scrolls Online
First things first: I got my bear. This, as many players will attest, is the most important part of being a Warden. I had...
EVE Evolved: How working with NPCs could improve EVE Online
While EVE Online is primarily based around the conflicts that arise between groups of players competing in the same virtual universe, the New Eden...
Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV’s pre-Shadowbringers roadmap
We're almost done with the fan festival hype cycle, and to be honest, that's kind of a relief. Not that I don't enjoy looking...
Global Chat: Anthem makes first contact with gamers
The game on everyone's mind this month definitely has to be BioWare's Anthem. The studio's first new IP in a long time is a...
One Shots: Diet lightsabers
I think it's about high time we got a Star Wars game in which lightsabers functioned properly as instruments that could melt or slice...
The Daily Grind: Do you have any love for jumping puzzles in MMOs?
It's hard for me to be sure exactly when MMOs decided that jumping puzzles were the thing to include as an option. Guild Wars 2 certainly...
LOTRO Legendarium: Is Moria amazing – or agonizing?
In about a month, Lord of the Rings Online's progression servers will unlock their first expansion and take us deep into the mines of...
Betawatch: Camelot Unchained puts the numbers on the field
How many players and bots were on the field with the last test for Camelot Unchained? Not one. Not two. Not three. Not... all right,...
The Soapbox: A pre-mortem for Star Wars The Old Republic, a game that never knew what it had
Would you believe that Star Wars: The Old Republic is shutting down? I'm going to bet that you could believe it, and I'm even going to bet...
Vague Patch Notes: Why the social penalty for open PvP in MMOs never works
One of the most important things to have when you're thinking about games and their design is reference material. It's one of the things...
The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the biggest homogeneity problem with outfits?
Every MMO has a certain upper limit on how many different outfits you can come up with. That's just the reality. And some games...
Hyperspace Beacon: The tale of Ood Bnar and his place in SWTOR
If you've not watched the "Choose My Alignment" livestreams that MJ and I have been doing over the last couple of years, then you've...
Perfect Ten: Hit franchises that were almost made into MMORPGs
For my money, there are few more tantalizing and agonizing thoughts than the great "What Ifs?" of the MMO genre. What if one title...
