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]

One Shots: The zen of jumping puzzles

82
Even my most casual acquaintance will always know two things about me: that I have more hair than is healthy for a human male...

Chaos Theory: Figuring out The Secret World in 2016

26
Behind you, it's totally dark and the way has closed off. There's simply no going back. Up ahead, everything is in shadows. You creep...
Set sail, etc.

Perfect Ten: Ten MMO tropes we don’t need in 2016 (but clearly aren’t going anywhere)

122
All right, we've had just about a month of 2016 now, and I'm writing this on my birthday. Odds are good that I'm going...

Choose My Adventure: Exploring Shroud of the Avatar’s (not so) open wilds

13
Hello, friends, and welcome to the penultimate installment of Choose My Adventure: Shroud of the Avatar. Last week, in addition to giving the game's...

Working As Intended: What Star Wars Galaxies got wrong

113
If you've listened to Massively's staff and readers talk about Star Wars Galaxies a little bit, you might come away with the impression that...

Jukebox Heroes: The top 10 EVE Online music themes

20
One of the great things about the EVE Online soundtrack, other than its perplexing popularity despite being mostly an ambient synth score, is that...

Hyperspace Beacon: Is SWTOR losing its MMORPG cred?

100
One of the recurring gamer complaints about Star Wars: The Old Republic is that it's becoming less and less an MMORPG over time. With Knights of the...
Somewhere, across the sea, somewhere.

Wisdom of Nym: The next stop on Final Fantasy XIV’s magical expansion tour

17
The next expansion for Final Fantasy XIV will be announced this year. We all know it. I suppose there's a chance it won't happen,...

MMO Mechanics: MMORPG mechanics predictions for 2016

89
In the last edition of MMO Mechanics, I looked back on 2015 and the mechanics I managed to squeeze into the column: We looked...

One Shots: This little piggy went to market

39
I love me a good in-game marketplace. It always makes me think of commerce, of adventure, and of clashing worlds. Too bad we're usually...

The Game Archaeologist: Online gaming service providers of the ’80s and ’90s

16
As graphical MMOs took off in the 1990s with the advent of games like Neverwinter Nights, The Realm, and Ultima Online, many of them...
Local Panda Recalls When She Was Special.

WoW Factor: The importance of class fantasies

37
Here's a fun thought exercise for you all: explain the differences between Fire Mages and Destruction Warlocks in World of Warcraft. But before you...

Perfect Ten: Top 10 obscure MMORPGs

60
I've seen a lot of desperate requests in my day in which players are asking for games outside of the normal sphere of popularity...

EverQuesting: A 2016 franchise forecast for EverQuest Next, EverQuest, EverQuest II, and Landmark

41
We've looked back at 2015 for the launched games EverQuest and EverQuest II, the long-lasting beta of Landmark, and the MIA-and-presumed-dead (by some) ...

Choose My Adventure: In which my Shroud of the Avatar plans are foiled

23
Hello friends, and welcome to the next installment of the Shroud of the Avatar edition of Choose My Adventure. Last week, as I'm sure...

Flameseeker Chronicles: Examining Guild Wars 2’s winter 2016 update plans

37
Guild Wars 2 Game Director Colin Johanson dropped a massive amount of information about the direction development will take in the first quarter of 2016...

Hyperspace Beacon: How to make a million credits in an hour of SWTOR

68
I can’t help but attempt to find some of the most efficient ways to make credits in Star Wars: The Old Republic. I have...
Are you not entertained?

Wisdom of Nym: A musing on malaise in Final Fantasy XIV

24
There's no question in my mind that Final Fantasy XIV is still one of my favorite games of all time. It certainly doesn't lack...

EVE Evolved: Three things you don’t want to miss in 2016

15
In the previous edition of EVE Evolved, I looked back at some of the big highlights EVE Online throughout 2015. It was a year that revolutionised...
Good, sure, but $600 of good?

Betawatch: Oculus Rift-bound EVE Valkyrie plans alpha (January 8, 2016)

1
The good news for eager VR fans is that EVE: Valkyrie's first alpha test will start up on January 18th for use with the...