column
The Daily Grind: Do you trust companies selling ‘games as a service’?
MUD and MMO players are pretty much the original victims of "games as a service" mentality. News that Nintendo is shutting down the Wii...
The Survivalist: Outpost Zero improvements have really increased its fun factor
Sitting back and loosely following the development of an early access game, then hopping in here and there to check out a score of...
Wisdom of Nym: Speculating on the the European Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival
Originally I hadn't actually planned to do this particular column, and had instead figured that I'd just go down on reactions to the fan...
The Daily Grind: What’s the best example of wasted aesthetics in an MMO?
If you somehow missed our award for meme of year, now's a good time to trot it back out because it could so apply...
The Daily Grind: When did you realize you were no longer a beginner in an MMO?
I tend to think of myself as a beginner in any given MMO for a really long time. Like, to the point where I'll have...
LOTRO Legendarium: Five lessons I’ve learned from replaying Shadows of Angmar
Over the past three months, I've been exclusively playing on the Anor progression server in Lord of the Rings Online. During that time, I've...
The Daily Grind: Do you find it hard to connect with pre-established MMO characters?
One of the hallmarks of MMORPGs is the freedom for players to create the kind of character that they want, from race to looks...
Wisdom of Nym: Analyzing and overthinking Final Fantasy XIV’s 4.5 revelations
I wonder if we're actually going to find out our destination for the next expansion in February. Remember, we still don't actually know where...
The Daily Grind: Do you approach all MMOs with PvP as ‘PvP games’?
I saw a thought-provoking exchange on Reddit this week that's too good to sit on. It was in a thread for an MMORPG in...
Vague Patch Notes: ‘Gamer’ is not an identity
Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm 36 years old. I've been a professional writer for about a decade now, and...
The Daily Grind: How much should fan communities influence MMO designers?
The other day I saw a comment on an MMO subreddit that I quite liked; to paraphrase, it basically stated that the system designers...
Perfect Ten: The worst MMORPG expansions of all time
A great MMO expansion brings so much to the table: fresh excitement for a game, new classes, innovative features, expanded vistas, additional races, and...
The Daily Grind: What do you want out of World of Warcraft’s next expansion?
It's no secret that player engagement with World of Warcraft is down across the board, with even some of its most vocal supporters acknowledging...
Choose My Adventure: Fighting for friends in Elite Dangerous
Combat in Elite Dangerous is hard, but finding friends was just a bit harder. At least, it was in the way that I had...
The Daily Grind: Would you play Overwatch if it had a PvE or co-op mode?
Overwatch had a strange 2018. While Blizzard expanded the game's developer team last year, it also put out less content (and more repeat content)...
EVE Evolved: Solving conflict avoidance in EVE Online
Back in October, I made the case that wars were literally ruining EVE Online for the huge number of players living in high-security space....
Wisdom of Nym: A measured evaluation of Final Fantasy XIV’s Blue Mage
It's fair to say that a lot was riding on the first limited job for Final Fantasy XIV. It's not just that the job itself...
The Daily Grind: What’s your core problem with mobile MMOs, and is it fixable?
Droid Gamers put out an interesting piece this weekend that to me illuminates how the ongoing conversation about mobile MMOs go south. Author Ash...
The Daily Grind: Do you wish more MMOs celebrated character birthdays?
It always struck me as a cute trick that the original Guild Wars gave your characters birthday presents. Sometimes they were even valuable birthday presents, seeing...
The Game Archaeologist: Fury
Back in 1997, Australian game developer Auran arrived onto the scene with the real-time strategy title Dark Reign. While it wasn't exactly Command & Conquer...
