Columns

Enjoy a run-down of our recent long-form pieces, both game-specific and more general. You might also be interested in our list of all of our columns and recurring articles. [Follow this category’s RSS feed]

Perfect Ten: Ten ways to bond with your kids over MMOs

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Back in 2009 I made the transition into parenthood, an advanced class that I still don't think I'm quite qualified for. Since then I've...
Ah yes.

Betawatch: AdventureQuest 3D hits open beta (October 21, 2016)

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You don't have to go questing for an adventure in AdventureQuest 3D. Wait... hold on. I'm sorry, that's exactly what you do in the...
Herp to the derp.

WoW Factor: Sargeras, the Legion, and World of Warcraft lore on the cosmic scale

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Patch 7.1 is just around the corner for World of Warcraft, and it makes me just a little bit anxious. Why? Because the expansion...
Losing in a way that's incidentally the same as not in fact losing at all.

Massively Overthinking: Real solutions to the MMO toxicity problem

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Toxicity. It's plagued online spaces since long before there were MMORPGs and other online video games, as any old school BBS user can attest....

EverQuesting: EverQuest II’s public quest event — fun or flop?

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Last year when EverQuest II had a prelude event before the launch of its expansion, it was a two-parter. And thanks to logistics at...

Hyperspace Beacon: Examining SWTOR’s contentious 5.0 endgame gear grind

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If you didn't watch the Star Wars: The Old Republic livestream on Monday, then you missed Creative Director Charles Boyd, Producer Ben Irving, and...

Flameseeker Chronicles: Gaming playstyles, science, and Guild Wars 2

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I was curious recently about what specific personality traits or personal qualities lead to my enjoyment of MMOs in general and Guild Wars 2 in particular,...
Here we go again.

Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival: Reactions to Stormblood

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Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood ought to have be the least interesting announcement possible. It was heavily teased before it actually happened, and we knew that...
Why must you disappoint hopes?

Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in review

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Being at the Final Fantasy XIV fan festival was interesting for me on several levels because I wasn't just there to have fun, I...

EVE Evolved: Controversy over gambling bans and charities

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It's been a crazy, drama-filled week in EVE Online, starting with a controversial change to the EULA that will ban all gambling sites using in-game currency or assets...

One Shots: Always fall, never winter

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Thank you to everyone who posted pictures of autumnal scenery from MMOs. It truly is one of the best seasons (the worst is Smarch......

The Game Archaeologist: Classic PlanetSide

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Unlike fantasy, the sci-fi genre has had a rocky relationship with MMORPGs. While studios have tried just as hard to make and promote them,...

Betawatch: RIFT delays while Albion extends beta testing (October 14, 2016)

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This week in MMO beta news, RIFT announced a delay for the beta of its upcoming Starfall Prophecy expansion, first to next week, now indefinitely. "It's...

Working As Intended: A tour of 19-year-old Ultima Online

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Wanna feel old? Three years ago, I wrote a Second Wind piece for Massively-that-was on Ultima Online, which had recently been turned over to Broadsword...
This isn't how it had to be.

Perfect Ten: Incompetent leaders in MMORPGs

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Leadership is difficult. You have to get a group of people to work together when they may or may not be naturally inclined to...

EverQuesting: Could Daybreak’s new FPS be an EverQuest?

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With the constant clamoring from fans for Daybreak (or someone) to create an honest-to-goodness next-gen sequel to the EverQuest franchise, you'd hope that it...

Tamriel Infinium vs Hyperspace Beacon: Three ways to make lockboxes work better in MMORPGs

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Last week, I stirred up a hornet’s nest by bringing up the topic of lockboxes and how I really didn’t mind them in general. Hyperspace...
Book 'em

Wisdom of Nym: Final Fantasy XIV patch 3.4 in review, continued

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There's never really a good splitting point when discussing Final Fantasy XIV patches. They always cover so much ground with features and additions that...

MMO Mechanics: Enhancing MMORPGs with experiential learning mechanics

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Ever since I considered the responses to a Massively Overthinking article in which a developer asked if a prestige system to encourage replaying an...
But not quite so much.

The Daily Grind: What MMO would you like with a different game’s combat engine?

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There are things I really like about The Secret World; the combat has never been one of them. However, if I could somehow mix...