evergreen

So here in the MMORPG genre, we've been working under the assumption for the last few years that the "big five" MMOs that dominate...

This week, I want to expand on something I mentioned in last week's Vague Patch Notes as an offhand thing that bears further examination....

So, if you've been paying attention to this column over the past few forevers, you will have no doubt noticed by this point that...

Is there a figure in online games that more symbolizes the thin barrier between the server database and user playerbase than the non-player character?...

A while back, someone in our comments (I can't find it again, so I can't remember who!) dug up a quote from Raph Koster...

One of the most useful pieces of advice that I've gotten regarding making decisions for the future is also the simplest: Imagine yourself taking...

Sometimes column topics come from idle inner dialogue, while other times they may arise from a desire to do some personal research that ends...

When I first started playing Magic: the Gathering, Revised was the new hotness and I got used to the idea that Serra Angel was...

One of the most important implications of the virtual worlds we visit is that they all boast medical care far above and beyond anything...

Recently, my 12-year-old daughter began playing Lord of the Rings Online for the first time after having watched the movies and read The Hobbit....

Recently, we got a great letter from a listener asking about an issue that he'd been having with single-player games compared to MMOs. Essentially,...

MMOs require new blood. Not exclusively or anything; you can keep an MMO going for quite some time on existing happy players. But existing...

As I write this, I'm coming down off of the buzz that was Lord of the Rings Online's 15th anniversary. All in all, I...

It is the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy XI this week. Not the 20th anniversary of the game being in the US, and thus...

I vividly remember a conversation I had with my then-girlfriend's parents back in 1996 about the potential of this growing "internet" phenomenon. With my...

This particular column was inspired by a question by regular reader, commenter, and friend to man and beast alike Scott Leyes, who originally posed...

Dragons are ubiquitous. When I wrote a Perfect Ten describing every single MMO bestiary, I noted that no matter what game you're playing, no...

One of the things that I think is important to note about Final Fantasy XIV's new adventurer plates is that they are in an...

Server performance issues aside, Lord of the Rings Online's 15th anniversary has been a smashing success. It's been far greater an event than I...

Last week, we began a discussion about the ups and downs of rogue servers in the MMO space, by which I actually mean we...