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Vague Patch Notes: MOBAs, battle royales, and shallow genre pools in the online gaming space
This past week, Nintendo announced Pokemon Unite, and then I had to go to see a doctor because I rolled my eyes so far...
The Daily Grind: How did your early MMOs shape your expectations for the MMOs you play now?
I was chatting with MOP reader and commenter Bruno Brito a while back when something he said about player expectations in MMOs struck me....
Desert Oasis: Putting Black Desert’s music system in context with other MMOs
Back in the day, I used to really be into the ukulele. I used to play in open mics and sold them as my...
MMO Cartographer: A stroll through Eternal Magic, the Candy Crush of MMOs
I didn't catch the first release of Eternal Magic, so the Steam release this past spring seemed like a good time to get into...
WoW Factor: How do we make a good Warcraft movie?
Sometimes, dear readers, things simply do not line up. I really have a long piece I'm looking forward to doing, and then Blizzard does...
The Daily Grind: Which MMOs are unlikely to survive 2020?
The thing about surprising MMO shutdowns is that they're just that: surprising. No one expected to lose City of Heroes when we did, even if...
Massively on the Go: Exploring Pokemon Sword and Shield’s Isle of Armor expansion
I knew from the website shown at the initial announcement that Pokemon Sword and Shield's first expansion, The Isle of Armor, would be more of...
Perfect Ten: What makes me feel welcome when trying out your MMO
While it's not "standing in front of your high school in your underpants and reciting a difficult Shakespeare passage" level of anxiety, there is...
Chaos Theory: Secret World Legend’s third anniversary and the 2020 MEGAversary event
Another year has come and gone. (Though we might be glad this one's over.) Secret World Legends, the reboot of the beloved Secret World,...
The Daily Grind: What are the coolest MMO alien races?
OK, for today's topic, we're going to be limiting ourselves strictly to scifi MMORPGs (sorry fantasy, you'll have to settle for pretty much 95%...
Choose My Adventure: EVE Online’s combat coalesces into something nearing enjoyment
All right, EVE Online. I'm starting to get you.
The mission was to continue with the career path NPCs, and after some more time in...
The Soapbox: No, forced grouping in MMOs isn’t ‘social’
Thinking back to high school, I'm awash in memories of the many deep, meaningful relationships that spawned as a result of being forced to...
The Daily Grind: Are we plagued by a ‘video game culture reset’?
Author and academic Ian Bogost recently tweeted something that struck me, particularly since it's a topic I harp on all the time. "Video-game culture resets...
Wisdom of Nym: Job extension ideas for the next Final Fantasy XIV expansion
One of the interesting things about each given expansion for Final Fantasy XIV is that we always get new tricks along the way... sometimes...
Not So Massively: My top 10 favorite ARPG classes
I love me some ARPGs, but in any RPG your enjoyment will depend so much on finding the right class. A game that felt...
The Daily Grind: Would your favorite MMORPG benefit from more servers?
Back around when Elder Scrolls Online launched Greymoor, I saw an interesting thread on the official forums asking for new servers. For some MMOs,...
The Game Archaeologist: The virtual worlds of the 1990s
With the increased speeds of modems and the move into 3-D space in the 1990s, some game designers thought it was a logical conclusion...
The Daily Grind: Do you like collecting trivia about unused MMO content?
We recently ran a feature all about an iceberg of obscure World of Warcraft knowledge, weird unused parts of the game or old promotions or...
The Daily Grind: Which MMO newbie zone has the best music?
Yes, it's me talking about MMO music again. You can't shut me up about it. But instead of throwing the field wide open for...
WoW Factor: The time-skip Shadowlands theory and the longing for World of Warcraft 2
All right, here we go. Normally this is the sort of thing that I wouldn't actually spend a whole week on because believe it...