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]

Bet on it.

WoW Factor: In the wake of BlizzCon’s Legion content

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Well, folks, we're officially living in a post-BlizzCon world. Until the next one. The point is, we're done with that convention, and all that's...

Massively Overthinking: Is IP-blocking in online games a necessary evil?

138
This past week, news about Black Desert's IP blocking has reminded me once again how IP-blocking, region-locking, and the resulting isolated MMO communities are...

Chaos Theory: How my walk in The Park gave me hope for The Secret World

23
In the beginning, there was surprise. Funcom is making a single-player experience based on The Secret World?! After a few seconds that shock melted...
Guess who's back. Back again.

Perfect Ten: How playing MMOs can make you a better person

21
I like to think that I'm a better person now than I was when I first loaded up Final Fantasy XI. That's how long...

Ask Mo: The absurd advantages of MMO guilds

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A Massively OP reader named Ohnix recently sent us a question just perfect for Ask Mo. Let's debate guilds! I play EverQuest II quite a...

Marvel Heroics: The joys of pet ownership

8
I've always been a sucker for vanity pets in MMOs. It's not just the layer of customization and ownership pride that lugging along one...
Dungeons!

Wisdom of Nym: Analyzing Final Fantasy XIV’s patch 3.1 notes

14
There are a lot of things that I really like about Final Fantasy XIV, a fact that should come as a surprise to practically...

Guild Chat: Wrestling with guild permissions and controlling leaders

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Pull up a pew and get comfortable, dear readers: It's time for another advice-filled installment of Guild Chat, my own little corner of Massively...

One Shots: Don’t be crabby

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I don't think I could take the blow to my ego to boot up and play something called Dragomon Hunter, but then again, I...

The Game Archaeologist: The PLATO MMOs

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In tracing the history and pre-history of MMORPGs in this column, we've spent a lot of time outside of the 2000s and into the...
There we go again.

Betawatch: Asta hops to the west (November 6, 2015)

14
It's interesting to watch the progress of Asta as a title. The game shut down rather quickly in its native country, but it has...

MMO Burnout: The Crew

15
I broke down and bought The Crew on PC, mostly because it was briefly on sale for 13 bucks. I'd been meaning to pick up...

Massively Overthinking: What to do when your MMO grows stale

55
Earlier this year, Kotaku ran a piece on how to make your favorite games feel new again once they've gotten a bit stale. Since...
When it comes.

WoW Factor: What WoW Legion needs from BlizzCon

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It's go time tomorrow: BlizzCon is almost here, and I'm going to be liveblogging my way through most of the event. And boy, it's coming at...

EverQuesting: Remembering EverQuest II’s bumpy 11th year

13
In the 11th year of EverQuest II, what did SOE/Daybreak give to me? An emotional rollercoaster ride! This Sunday marks 11 years of Norrathian...

Perfect Ten: Why making an Old West MMO would be challenging (but worth it)

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The western has been limping along for decades now, occasionally rearing its head to produce a well-loved movie or game smash hit before disappearing once...

Choose My Adventure: Into the Heart of Thorns

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Hello again friends, and welcome back to Choose My Adventure. November is upon us, and that means two things: It's time for another round...

Global Chat: The frustrations and joys of Guild Wars 2’s Heart of Thorns

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The player debate and analysis over the virtues and vices of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns has -- unsurprisingly -- evoked strong opinions...

Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2’s immediate future

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I imagine that the launch of Heart of Thorns was quite a bittersweet event for the ArenaNet gang: The sense of relief and celebration...

Sword and Bored: The seams of the world

15
Mo is finally rescued from his free-fall, but that's not the end of his team's troubles.